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Soft Robotics Competitions Offer $10,000 in Prizes

Soft Robotics Competitions Offer $10,000 in Prizes

March 25, 2015

There’s still time to sign up your team for the 2015 Soft Robotics Competitions!

For the design competition, entrants are charged with creating a novel device using at least one of the tools available on Harvard’s Soft Robotics Toolkit Website. The entire robot doesn’t have to be soft — it can incorporate more traditional, rigid elements. But at least one component must be soft. Entrants must document their creations on a wiki...

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CNET - Harvard wants everyone to build soft robots

CNET - Harvard wants everyone to build soft robots

September 24, 2014

Harvard University labs has launched a toolkit that will supply robotics enthusiasts and researchers with the tools they need to design, build and operate soft robots.

Want to build your own soft robots? Harvard University in collaboration with Dublin, Ireland's Trinity college have what you need. The two institutions have jointly launched a soft robotics toolkit that contains all the "intellectual" tools for enthusiasts and experienced robot builders to make their own.

You can't get parts from the website; instead, it contains information about the various...

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Geek - Harvard releases its DIY soft robotics toolkit

Geek - Harvard releases its DIY soft robotics toolkit

September 24, 2014

Harvard, arguably the most famous Ivy League university on Earth, has a long history of democratization of education; together with MIT and several other elite institutions, they’ve pushed hard to make online learning easy and high in quality. However, one aspect of learning that’s intrinsically difficult to export from the physical school is the physical lab experiment; universities often invest tens or hundreds of thousands in equipment that makes it possible to apply many of the engineering principles explained in digital textbooks. Today, new technologies and a thriving and...

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Gizmodo - How to Make a Soft Robot

September 23, 2014

Robots are often imagined as hard, shiny things, gleaming futuristic machines. They often arehard, shiny things. But sometimes they're softer than a baby butt and more flexible than an Illinois governor's morals. Soft robotics is a growing field devoted to the squishier side of automated technology, and with the help of a new toolkit, you can get in on the action.

So wait, soft robots are just stretchy robots?

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Harvard Gazette - Build your own bot

Harvard Gazette - Build your own bot

September 19, 2014

A new resource unveiled today by researchers from several Harvard University labs in collaboration with Trinity College Dublin provides both experienced and aspiring researchers with the intellectual raw materials needed to design, build, and operate robots made from soft, flexible materials.

With the advent of low-cost 3-D printers, laser cutters, and other advances in manufacturing technology, soft robotics is emerging as an increasingly important field. Using principles drawn from conventional rigid robot design, but working with pliable materials, engineers are pioneering the...

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