Make : soft robotics : a DIY introduction to squishy, stretchy, and flexible robots / Matthew Borgatti, Kari Love ; foreword by Chris Atkeson

Includes index

Introduction to soft robotics -- Soft robotics for space exploration -- Using a water snake toy to move like an amoeba -- Cable pull mechanisms - ready, willing, and cable -- McKibben muscles - strong and flexible -- 3D printing best practices -- The Remora - a vacuum-powered jamming gripper -- Mixing and casting silicone -- Building your own vacuum chamber -- The Bibenda - a simple pneumatic bending actuator -- The pneumatic hand pump - a soft robot prototyping tool -- The Kousa - a soft hydraulic pressure sensor -- The Kestrel - a soft pneumatic gripper -- Soft robotics pneumatic power supply

Soft robotics is an emerging field that approaches robots in new ways, enabling them to operate in environments that are unstructured or unstable and to perform tasks that require delicacy and malleability. It's all about engineering with soft materials -- silicone, cloth, balloons, flexible plastics -- and combining them in different ways to come up with novel, approachable, and surprising solutions to interesting problems. This book introduces soft-robotics concepts to students, inventors, and makers with easy-to-understand explanations and hands-on DIY projects. The projects use a wide range of tools and techniques -- including microcontrollers, 3D printing, laser cutting, mold making, casting, and heat sealing -- to create intriguing soft robots and devices. It is tinkering at its finest! --Publisher