VIP Team Information

VIP Team
3D-Printed Video Game-Playing Soft Robots
VIP Faculty Mentors:

Dr. Ryan Sochol
Mechanical Engineering
Meeting Location, Day & Time:
Leidos Lab, Mondays, 10:30am-11:30am. An additional hour will be scheduled.
Description:
Soft robots, made from flexible materials and fluidic systems, offer safe human-robot interactions but face control challenges. Sochol's BAM Lab aims to make 3D-printed soft robots more accessible by using affordable printers to create robots that can even play video games. Soft robots—e.g., robots composed of compliant materials and actuated by fluidic (hydraulic and/or pneumatic)—have emerged as powerful alternatives for applications that would be difficult or impossible to realize using traditional, rigid robots. Despite a number of inherent benefits for soft robots, particularly in terms of safety for human-robot interactions, challenges associated with controlling the underlying fluidics of such systems represent key barriers to utility. Recently, Sochol's "Bioinspired Advanced Manufacturing (BAM)" Laboratory introduced a strategy for 3D printing soft robots comprising fully integrated fluidic circuitry in a single print run and demonstrated a soft robotic "hand" capable of beating the first level of Super Mario Bros (youtu.be/5smhhTKb3DM). Unfortunately, this particular approach relied on an expensive (>$100,000) 3D printer. The goal of this project is to extend this strategy to inexpensive (e.g., <$500) 3D printers to support accessibility and, ultimately, demonstrate its efficacy by engineering soft robots capable of playing video games.
Methods:
3D printing, CAD, circuits, fluid dynamics
Majors:
College of Agriculture & Natural Resources
School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
College of Arts & Humanities
College of Behavioral & Social Sciences
The Robert H. Smith School of Business
College of Computer, Mathematical, & Natural Sciences
College of Education
College of Information Studies
The Philip Merrill College of Journalism
School of Public Health
School of Public Policy
Preferred Interests:
Prior experience with CAD (namely, SolidWorks), 3D printing, and/or circuitry is helpful, but not required.



