Designing a soft robot to move organically — to bend like a finger or twist like a wrist — has always been a process of trial and error. Now, Harvard researchers have developed a method to automatically design soft actuators based on the desired movement.
Designing a soft robot that can bend like a finger or knee may seem simple but the motion is actually incredibly complex.
The method developed by the team uses mathematical modeling of fluid-powered, fiber-reinforced actuators to optimize the design of an actuator to perform a certain motion. The team used this model to design a soft robot that bends like an index finger and twists like a thumb when powered by a single pressure source.
