Project Title:

This project challenges the current abilities of soft robotics in the realm of dexterity and autonomous interaction. A prosthetic device was added to a KUKA Agilus which could interact with a ball -  a unique challenge in that it formally offers no grip points or holds. We found it best to mimic one of the few devices equipped to deal with spherical objects - the human hand. The silicone robot deforms with linear curvature in a radial pattern to simulate fingers' grip strength, while specific patterning in the "palm" maximizes frictional grip.

A Pixy camera uses color recognition to find and focus on the ball, detecting its distance and location. When the ball is in position relative to the camera, the soft robotic gripper knows to contract or release, thus creating an intelligent system of interaction between the robotic arm and the object.

This project looks into pneumatically-actuated silicone robots as a solution for complex gripping form and forgiving strength.

Soft Robotics was done in collaboration with Erik Broberg, Nick Bruni, and Junzhishan Zhu.