ME4242

Individual Assignment
Briefing
Raye Yeow, PhD
NUS Department of Biomedical Engineering
Advanced Robotics Center (ARC)
Office E1-08-16, rayeow@nus.edu.sg

Raye Lab
 Robotics x Art

‘Robotic Flowers’ Assignment

• Explore and experience soft fluidic actuator
fabrication using household/recycled materials
• Characterize and report actuator performance
• Build 2 types of robotic flowers, involving
different actuation modes
 Basic Structure
Actuator

Bending

Extension-
Actuator Contraction
Rigid Base

Fluidic Fluidic
input input
 Recommended Method

https://youtu.be/RX10gDfSSfw

• Recommend to use Tape Adhesion method

• Easiest method, minimal materials & tools
• Duct tape, scissors, rod, hole puncher
Fabric Welding Method

• Need laminator/heat press

• Need TPU-coated fabric or
laminating sheets/pouches
 Can I use other methods?
• Yes, but subjected to household and
recycled materials available at your home

• Mold casting – need 3D printer to print molds,

and need silicone elastomeric mixture, might
be time-consuming to optimize the process
• 3D-printing – need 3D printer and flexible 3D-
printing filaments, might be time-consuming
to optimize the process
• Possible to use balloons, but need to figure
out how to restrain unwanted inflation
 How to inflate?
• Can use syringe, water bag, balloon pump,
bicycle pump, motor pump etc to provide
fluidic input

• Flexible pneumatic tubings will be best for

fluidic transmission, else straws or tape-based
tubings should also work
 Checking for leaks?
• Apply soap solution on actuator
• Inflate actuator and check for bubbles
• Fix actuator with more tapes or glue
• No need to aim for perfect leak-free home-
made actuators
 Deliverables
• Achieve 2 types of robotic flowers with
different actuation modes
• E.g. bending, extending-contracting,
twisting, growing, jamming etc.
• Characterize actuation kinematics with
available tools, e.g. ruler, protractor, camera
and tracker software (https://physlets.org/tracker/)
• Fluidic input can be estimated in terms of
number of squeezes on the bicycle pump,
volume of fluid in syringe or water bag,
pressure/voltage input of motor pump
 Reporting
• 1-page report (pdf format only) with images &
graphs, describing robotic flower actuator
design & performance

• 3-min video (mp4 format only) to showcase

your unique robotic flower capabilities
• Avoid use of copyrighted materials

• Upload to Canvas Individual Assignment folder

by 2nd Sep 2359hrs

• Assessment Criteria:
• Report: Design (5%), Analysis (5%)
• Video: Performance (5%), Creativity (5%)
Any Clarifications?

Raye Yeow
Office E1-08-16, rayeow@nus.edu.sg