Pneumatics Progress

These past couple weeks I designed and 3D printed two separate molds for soft bodies. One is a gripper (obtained from instructables with some slight alterations), and the other is just a tube like body with an air chamber in it. The first is to test movements as a result of different air chamber architectures, how much air push is necessary, how loud the movements are, etc. The second is to test another concept I found called fabric reinforcement, where by wrapping fabric along the outside of the body in different patters, one can obtain different movements.

1). The Gripper:

Here is an image of the 3D printed mold:

Video to Come

2). The tube movement WITHOUT fabric reinforcement:

Here is an image of the soft body mold:

Here is a video of the mold moving (with sound) when air is blown into it:

3). The tube movement WITH fabric reinforcement:

Here is an image of the soft body mold:

Here is a video of the mold moving (with sound) when air is blown into it:

Summary of Results:

This seems like a completely viable option to pursue for movements, however I will need to be very strict in my architecture and soft body creation to get the exact movements that I want. In terms of the fabric reinforcement, there is certainly some viability to this idea as the video shows the beginning of a “twisting” motion due to the wrapped string. More research will be needed to to discover exactly what patterns/ degrees of angles are needed to get particular movements.