Projects

Welcome! On this page, you will find a variety of student-led projects, each driven by unique actuation principles. Explore the innovative designs created by our talent students, each project an example of creativity and engineering prowess.

Pneumatic Actuation

Theory of Pneumatic Actuation

Understand more about the concepts of pneumatic actuation in soft robots.

McKibben Creature

The McKibben Creature is a low-cost robot that is solely actuated by McKibben muscles. Materials such as corrugated cardboard and other readily available materials can be used for construction.

Rubber Duck Boat

The rubber duck boat is a fun 2 hour activity for students ranging from upper middleschool to highschool. Students will work in teams of 4-5 to create a paddle boat powered by McKibben muscles.

Machine Design Fish

Develop a soft robotic fish toy for integration into a machine design curriculum. Students will be tasked with designing a mechanism to enable the actuation of a silicone fish tail.

Quality & Reliability of a McKibben Muscle

A class sample of McKibben Muscles will each be tested for different criteria (ex: length, inflation diameter). Each student will perform statistical analysis using the data from the entire class and determine if their own sample product is reliable and falls within the set constraints and conditions.

Hydraulic Actuation

Theory of Hydraulic Actuation

Understand more about the concepts of hydraulic actuation in soft robots.

Hydraulic Fish Toy

The Hydraulic Fish Toy introduces a collaborative collegiate project aimed at crafting a streamlined soft robotic fish with the ultimate objective of fashioning an interactive toy for kids.