Flowering Plant
Posted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 2:08 am
I've attached a few sketches of a soft robot I want to make. It is essentially a flowering plant on a stem, but the stem can bend and the "petals" can grab from the air, like a venus flytrap. It is intended to be based on the art design of Brian Froud in the Dark Crystal. I would also like it to morph a bit; when the petals flex, I want shapes like a frog's eyes to rise out of the petals. I'm not sure what this will do to the flexing power of the petals. I'm also unsure exactly how to perform the casting. I think I can do it in two main parts: the stalk as a lost-wax process, and the petals as a two-part cast glued together, where the underside (stalk-side) is cast flat and glued to the back of the rest of the petals. If I did it as a single casting, I think the wax sculpting would be prohibitively difficult and I would have to have either 3 or 6 petals, but I would be able to have curved front and back of the petals. I think that will have to wait for another day.
It's still a primitive stage of the design process on this one, but I think it's doable, based on GiantEye's Trefoil Tentacle and the Gripper I found on Instructables here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Air-Pow ... c-Gripper/
It's still a primitive stage of the design process on this one, but I think it's doable, based on GiantEye's Trefoil Tentacle and the Gripper I found on Instructables here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Air-Pow ... c-Gripper/