Background

Robotics is a field that is constantly pushing the boundaries on new technology. One of these new technologies is soft robotics. This field is dedicated to the science and engineering of soft materials in robotics. The project proposed here incorporates these concepts. Previous senior design projects at Rochester Institute of Technology have utilized air muscle technologies to create a functional robotic hand. This project will combine this new focus on soft robotics with the previously developed technologies in air muscle design to create an inflatable robotic hand. In addition to combining these technologies, this inflatable robotic hand will be mounted on an RC vehicle so that it can be mobile.

RIT professor Dr. Lamkin-Kennard has had a number of previous senior design teams create robotic hands controlled using artificial pneumatic muscles. They have varied with design specifics and use, but the use of soft robotics has been limited to just the muscles used to actuate the hands. Dr. Lamin-Kennards new vision was to create a fully inflatable system that utilizes soft robotics for the hand itself. The senior design team here was then employed to create such a system. This was the initial motivation behind the project, to expand more into the world of soft robotics and explore more potential capabilities.

One of the main problems this system is being designed to solve is how to work in a place that is unsafe for people. Of course there are other such system, like bomb disposal robots, that have provided solutions to this problem, but in the case where a softer touch is needed, the rigidity of previous robotic systems poses a problem. The system here could be a potential solution to this situation.