Bawdy Blueprints

Soft robotics resources

A challenge that I ran into is securing a tube to the silicone volume to be filled- one or two zip ties seeming to be the best way, but I haven't dived too deeply in here.

• Soft Robotics Toolkit is an amazing resource. Just going to leave this video here.
• Christopher G. Atkeson at Carnegie Mellon has a page on making soft robots with many useful links.
• Hackaday, as usual, has project writeups in this domain

Inspiration courtesy Soft Robotics Toolkit.

Witsense, a design consulting firm, has released a video of a prototype they've built (which they're calling "Lovewear") using what appears to be a plasticised airtight fabric. This is a different direction than most silicone-based soft robotics projects. The technique involves bonding two fabric sheets in such a way as to create chambers that can be independently inflated. This approach may be interesting at different scales- smaller chambers in the fabric may be good for throbbing veins or tissues that can change rigidity; larger chambers may allow for entire parts that change shape or stiffness.

They include a demonstration of actuation using multiple chambers; I am generally skeptical of soft robotic actuation to actually exert force for bawdy applications, but it is certainly interesting.

• "Lovewear" website
• "Lovewear" video
• Reddit discussion of what fabric is seen in the video
• SexTechGuide article on "Lovewear"