I-Corps: Soft Robotic Toolkit for Students and Researchers

I-Corps：面向学生和研究人员的软机器人工具包

• 批准号: 2121958
• 负责人: Conor Walsh
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Harvard University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-03-01 至 2023-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2121958&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Soft; Robotic; Toolkit; Students

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of entry-level, open-ended, soft robotics kits with accompanying curricular materials. The goal of the proposed technology is to enable students and researchers to test and prototype soft robots with an easy-to-use platform. The proposed open-ended kit will include portable and compact control hardware alongside materials and instructions for building soft sensors and actuators. This information will enable high-school students, undergraduate design teams, and academic and industrial researchers to create their own soft robots, which will enable both education and research applications of soft robotics by students, researchers, and hobbyist-makers. The proposed technology may be a gateway that can further motivate students to learn about soft robots, engineering, science, and mathematics. This I-Corps project is based on the development of entry-level soft robotic kits aimed at middle and high school students that will include materials, building guides, and curriculums to create soft finger-like grippers using tendon and pneumatic actuation methods. The proposed technology platform includes a catalog of design and fabrication rules for soft robots, guidelines for simulating fluid-structure interaction with finite element modeling, demonstration and validation via hardware, documentation of research results, engineering student education, and an open-source platform for sharing the research with the broader educational and research communities. The kits consist of 3D computer aided design (CAD) models, simulation files, and fabrication instructions that may be adapted for other applications. Combining soft robotic technology with applications involving human interaction and the use of social and people-centric applications is expected to attract a more diverse population to the study of STEM (science, technology, mathematics, and engineering) subjects.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发入门级，开放式，软机器人的套件，并带有随附的课程材料。提出的技术的目的是使学生和研究人员能够使用易于使用的平台测试和原型软机器人。拟议的开放式套件将包括便携式和紧凑的控制硬件以及用于构建软传感器和执行器的材料和说明。 这些信息将使高中生，本科设计团队以及学术和工业研究人员能够创建自己的软机器人，这将使学生，研究人员和业余爱好者制造者能够为软机器人技术提供教育和研究应用。 提出的技术可能是一个门户，可以进一步激励学生了解软机器人，工程，科学和数学。 该I-Corps项目基于针对中高中学生的入门级软机器人套件的​​开发，其中包括材料，建筑指南和课程，以使用肌腱和气动驱动方法来创建类似柔软的手指的握手。 拟议的技术平台包括针对软机器人的设计和制造规则的目录，用于与有限元建模的流体结构相互作用的指南，通过硬件进行证明和验证，研究结果的记录，工程学学生教育以及一个开放源代码平台，用于与更广泛的教育和研究社区共享研究。该套件由3D计算机辅助设计（CAD）模型，仿真文件和制造说明组成，可以适用于其他应用程序。 将软机器人技术与涉及人类互动以及以社交和以人为中心的应用的应用相结合，预计将吸引更多样化的人群来研究STEM（科学，技术，数学和工程）主题。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用该基金会的知识优点和广泛影响来评估NSF的法定任务。