What Do You Need To Build a Robot

For any robotics enthusiast the ability to make their own robot has to be a science project that they really look forward to. The lack of readily available resources often plays spoilsport in some cases, and this is what the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is hoping to change.

With technologies such as 3D printing and laser cutting becoming more accessible, it is becoming easier for people to manufacture soft robots. It is with a view to aid this field that the soft robot toolkit has been developed by these researchers. The toolkit consists of open source plans, how-to videos, case studies of designs, fabrication, modeling and control of soft robots.

All of this is available online in easily downloadable formats. Conor Walsh, Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering says that the goal of the toolkit is to advance the field of soft robotics by allowing designers and researchers to build upon each other’s work.

This common resource pool that designers and manufacturers can dip into will help to reduce duplication of work. It will also stimulate new methods to be worked with, create new tools and even new kinds of soft robots. All in all this is a science project that is bound to grow by leaps and bounds in the future.