MAE 298 Seminar: Creating Motion and Programming the Deformation of Soft Robots

Abstract: Soft robots are electromechanical machines built using soft, flexible, compliant and stretchable materials. Traditional rigid-bodied robots have been used to great effect in factory settings to handle large loads and move with high accelerations and precision. However, such robots are not well-suited to close collaboration with humans or situations that require adaptive behavior. Soft robots are inherently safer and more flexible and their deformable structure allows for locomotion in constrained spaces or for continued operation in the face of unexpected shocks and impacts. In this talk, I will discuss the design, materials and manufacture of two critical components for soft robots - actuation and stiffness control - for creating motion and controlling the deformation in a soft robot body. In the first half of this talk, I will present recent results on building dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) which, akin to a traditional motor, convert electrical energy to mechanical work to drive soft-bodied robots. DEAs are advantageous due to their high energy density and high bandwidth actuation embodied in all soft materials; however, efforts to scale their size and work output for implementation in larger soft robots have been stymied by low-throughput manufacturing and manual processes. I will present work on scaling up manufacturing processes for fabricating DEAs and design considerations for integrating DEAs into arbitrarily shaped soft structures. The second half of this talk will focus on materials for stiffness control in soft robots. These variable stiffness materials allow for spatial modulation of stiffness in the robot body. This in turn allows for deformation and interactions to be mediated not through actuation, but by changing the mechanical properties of the constituent materials. In this talk, I will discuss two materials whose stiffness can be controlled using thermal- and light-based stimuli. I will demonstrate how these materials can simplify manufacturing processes and augment the motion control for soft robots. Finally, I will close with a discussion of how these complementary topics can lead to more capable soft robots.

Bio: Michelle Yuen is an assistant professor in mechanical engineering at Montana State University. Her research focuses on materials & manufacturing for building soft sensors and actuators, stretchable electronics, shape-changing structures and soft robots. She completed postdoctoral training in the Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory and at the Air Force Research Laboratory. She received her doctoral and master's degrees in mechanical engineering at Purdue University and a bachelor's degree in biological systems engineering at UC Davis.