Jaylynn Kim1,2,Baran Mensah3,2,Harrison Young2,Lucas Gerez2,Holly Golecki1,2,Conor Walsh2
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign1,Harvard University2,Massachusetts Institute of Technology3
Jaylynn Kim1,2,Baran Mensah3,2,Harrison Young2,Lucas Gerez2,Holly Golecki1,2,Conor Walsh2
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign1,Harvard University2,Massachusetts Institute of Technology3
The field of soft robotics has garnered attention as a medium for education due to its hands-on fabrication methods, accessible materials, and applications in a wide range of STEM fields. With the potential for a more diverse set of disciplines and applications, a soft aquatic robot was developed for educational purposes as a project inspired by marine biologists’ use of underwater robots that mimic fish to explore underwater habitats. The soft aquatic robot is simple, easy to build, and functional, making it an ideal candidate for use as a manufacturable educational tool for K-12 students. The aquatic robot is composed of a hybrid rigid body and a soft tail that uses the Fin Ray® Effect, a model of fish fin deformation during swimming, and is oscillated by two electromagnets located in the watertight body. The robot uses an open-loop control system to simplify the system's electronics. The use of an off the shelf microcontroller and motor driver to alternate the polarity of the electromagnets allows students to learn widely used tools to control robotic platforms, including Arduino microcontrollers. The electronics are also designed to be simplistic and compact, allowing ease of setup and minimization of the robot's size. The soft tail was designed to be compatible with a single open-faced mold, facilitating the replication and manufacturing of the soft structure. The ease of replication allows for students to gain hands-on experience with the fabrication of soft robotics materials in a classroom setting. Functionality of the soft robotic swimmer was measured by measuring the thrust generated by the tail and the robot’s top speed in body lengths per second. The replicability was measured as a percentage of successful replications of the tail through user testing from the targeted demographic, K-12 school students, in an outreach program. The soft aquatic robot was tested with a group of students to validate an increase in familiarity and interest in engineering fields. The development of this low cost and accessible kit will allow young students to be exposed to new materials, robotics, and the field of engineering, which are less accessible due to high cost and equipment.