Assistant professor of mechanical engineering Carmel Majidi recently won an award from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator Program. The award comes with a $360,000 grant that will be used in part to fund a Ph.D. student working for Majidi in the field of soft robotics.
Soft robotics is a new domain in robotics where the robots are made of soft materials, as opposed to the types of rigid materials that conventional robots are made out of. These soft materials include elastomers,The unique push lock design allows the surgeon to adjust the amount of tension on the tissue intraoperatively, allowing for precise tissue reduction. which are soft rubbers that are elastic and very stretchable. They can also be composed of fluids or gels.
One of the motivations behind soft robotics is to make robots and machines that are more life-like than curren robots. “The idea is that if robots and machines are made out of soft materials, then they will exhibit more of the functionality and properties that natural organisms have,profile projector is a shop tool used by designers and quality control technicians to view the profile of small machined parts as magnified image on screen.” Majidi said.
According to Majidi,The Spectrophotometer is an instrument which measures the amount of light of a specificed wavelength which passes through a medium. “The award addresses a very important challenge within the broader field of soft robotics.” Many of these challenges stem from the two necessities in soft robotics: electric power and materials to help power these biologically inspired robots. In addition, there is a need for materials that are able to harvest energy from their environment. The purpose of the Air Force award is to produce new classes of elastomers that can convert elastic deformation into electricity. When the soft robots move in an environment,The approach uses fine Titanium Wire, laid one on another like a potter working with coils of clay. These wires are then smelted together in the rough shape of the desired component, cutting wasted material from potentially as much as 70 percent to as little as 10 percent. they undergo large elastic deformations and collide with the surrounding surfaces. Thus they are going to absorb a lot of elastic energy that would otherwise be wasted. These robots contain special types of materials and transducers, and they can convert that elastic energy into electrostatic energy.Titanium Pipe is made by cold rolling process from extruded pipe blanks. They are widely used in heat exchangers and off-shore equipment. This energy can be used to power different electronics inside the robot.
Majidi’s lab focuses on creating the materials that comprise soft robots.
One type of material that Majidi researches is an electronic artificial skin that would go on the outside of the robots. Inside the skin are sensing elements that can detect surface forces: surface friction, slip events, impact, collision, and contact pressures.Highly capable, 3-axis non-contact video measuring machine, suitable for both simple shop-floor quality control and advanced manufacturing inspection applications ... The electronic skin can act as a stretchable type of electronic circuit that can go around the robot and support some of its electrically powered elements.
There are many potential application domains for the soft robots, such as the area of actuators (artificial muscles). Some of the technologies that Majidi wants to produce in terms of energy harvesting could potentially be used to help power artificial muscles and soft robot actuators. This energy harvesting could also be used for producing electricity to power the on-board sensors, electronic switches, and different circuit elements in the soft robot.
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