Research

Project Ideas

1. Origami Robot

A controllable robot that uses origami wheels that can inflate and deflate to alter its height.

Pros:

Very interesting to me since I enjoy origami
Part of robotics
Adaptable to different situations

Cons:

High level of difficulty due to my engineering inexperience
No full or detailed instructions
No available files for the robot

Here is the website for the origami robot, if the page redirects to nanowerk's home page: https://www.nanowerk.com/news2/robotics/newsid=36617.php

2. Mechanical Wings

Wings that were controlled by electric motors to open and close.

Pros:

Visually appealing
Movable parts for different positions
Artistic aspect

Cons:

Difficult due to my engineering inexperience
Would be very large if following the tutorial; need to size down
Time consuming for the feathers

3. Soft Gripper

A soft, silicone gripper controlled by air to inflate and deflate while holding object.

Pros:

Part of soft robotics
Intermediate level of difficulty
Functionality and usability

Cons:

Would need to program on my own, since the original uses a handheld pump.
Silicone could be hard to work with
Very possible to fail

Soft Robotic Grabber (No 3D Printer Required)

Final Project Choice

My final project choice is the soft gripper. I chose this because of its balanced difficulty as a beginner to engineering. The gripper is interesting enough for me to continuously pursue the goal as it includes programming and soft robotics.

A successful project will be a functioning gripper that I can control with Arduino through the air pump.

The original project was created by Harrison Young on Instructables. My version of this gripper will use an air pump to control the gripper rather than a handheld pump in order to incorporate electronics into this project.

Design Specification Considerations

Design Specification Consideration Fall 2020

Further Research

Here are some other links I used in researching my project ideas.