Soft Robotics
During my time at Bucknell University, I spent 3 years working at the Soft Robotics Laboratory. Soft robotics is a subfield of robotics concerned with the design, control, and fabrication of robots made from compliant materials. Our lab mainly focused on two types of soft robotic actuators: fiber-reinforced elastomeric enclosures or FREEs, and McKibben actuators. FREEs are adept at rotation while McKibben actuators excel at contraction and extension. Combining groups of both types of actuators allowed us to create a soft-robotic arm with a range of complex motion. Our experimental setup contained eight pressure regulators connected to each soft actuator.
Apart from helping to improve the experimental setup and FREE manufacturing process, I designed control software for the robot using LabVIEW allowing manual user control as well as specific preprogrammed actions.
An important part of developing a comprehensive control system was mapping out the workspace of the soft-robotic arm. To this end, I developed a basic motion-tracking application using an Xbox Kinect.
Another of my jobs was to promote the lab and our research by creating fun and interesting demonstrations to showcase the capabilities of our soft robot. One of the proposed applications of our soft robotic system was for use as a home assistant, so demonstrations often revolved around the theme of completing household tasks.
I also created and managed the laboratory website. Though the lab is no longer active, you can visit the site for more information about our projects and soft robotics in general.