Harvard College

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc.

Robert J Wood

Conor James Walsh

Carmel Majidi

Yong-Lae Park

Daniel M Vogt

Yigit Menguc

Daniela Rus

Pratheev Sabaratnam Sreetharan

Michael Karpelson

Michael T Tolley

Michael J Smith

Joshua B Gafford

Jennifer Ann Lewis

Joseph Thomas Muth

Zivthan Dubrovsky

David B Kolesky

David Clarke

Kathleen Elizabeth O'Donnell

Samuel Kesner

Ryan L Truby

John Peter Whitney

Radhika Nagpal

Diana Young

Benjamin I Goldberg

Leia Stirling

Bor-rong Chen

Nicholas W Bartlett

Tommaso Ranzani

Sheila Russo

Oluwaseun A Araromi

George M Whitesides

James Joseph Collins

Arun Dhyaneshwar Chawan

Mihai Duduta

Robert F Shepherd

Bobak Mosadegh

Kevin Galloway

Gu-Yeon Wei

Michael Wehner

Hani Sallum

Erik D Demaine

Frank L Hammond, Iii

Eugene C Goldfield

James Niemi

Cagdas Denizel Onal

Shuguang Li

Peter A York

Simon A Bothner

Sebastien De Rivaz

Phillippe Bérard

Rebecca K Kramer

Samuel M Felton

Simon G Talbot

Kaitlyn Becker

Jobim Jose Robinsantos

Conner James Walsch

Carmel S Majidi

Leila Stirling

Methods and apparatus for fabricating a lightweight high power battery. The battery comprises an active structure including an anode electrode, a cathode electrode, and a separator material arranged between the anode electrode and the cathode electrode, a liquid electrolyte; and a non-metallic pouch arranged to encapsulate the active structure and the liquid electrolyte.

Method for fabrication of ultra lightweight, high power density lithium ion batteries

A compact laser-steering end effector includes a frame, at least two active mirrors, and a pair of actuators. The frame has a greatest dimension in a plane orthogonal to a longitudinal axis of no more than 13 mm, and the mirrors are mounted proximate to the distal end of the frame. The actuators are mounted to the frame and configured to respectively change the tilt of the active mirrors relative to the frame. A pathway is provided through the frame to deliver a laser beam to the mirrors, and wherein the mirrors are positioned and configurable via the actuators to reflect the laser beam off of each mirror en route to an external target.

Compact laser-steering end effector

In some embodiments, a dielectric elastomer device may include at least first and second dielectric elastomer layers, and a first layer of conductive particles disposed between the first and second dielectric elastomer layers and forming a first electrode of the device, wherein portions of the second dielectric elastomer layer are directly bonded with portions of the first dielectric elastomer layer through the first layer of the conductive particles. The dielectric elastomer layer may, for example, comprise a cured acrylic elastomer precursor with an additive including urethane, polybutadiene, or silicone. Electrodes in different layers may be interconnected by infusing a liquid or semi-liquid conductive material in contact with each of a plurality of the electrodes of the actuator or sensor device, and solidifying the conductive material to form a conductive path that interconnects the plurality of electrodes.

Manufacturing techniques and devices using dielectric elastomers

A laminate linkage with soft actuation includes a plurality of rigid plates joined at flexible joints; at least one balloon bonded to at least one of the rigid plates and configured to generate a displacement (extension, a change of yaw, and/or a change of pitch) of at least one of the rigid plates; and a fluid source in fluid communication with an interior volume of the balloon and configured to pump fluid into the balloon to generate the displacement of at least one of the rigid plates.

Soft actuators for pop-up laminate structures

A strain sensor comprising a conductive member having a plurality of elements arranged adjacent to one another, and a non-conductive and elastically deformable material encapsulating the conductive member, wherein, in an equilibrium state, compressive forces cause at least one of the plurality of elements to contact at least a portion of an adjacent element, and wherein, when a strain is applied, a resulting elastic deformation causes at least one of the plurality of elements to space apart from an adjacent element such that the contacted portion decreases or is eliminated. A multi-axis force sensor comprising a sensing array comprising at least two planar sensors arranged radially on a planar substrate in antagonistic pairs, and a compressible member positioned between the substrate and a central portion of the sensing array, the compressible member acting to displace the central portion of the sensing array away from the substrate.

Ultra-sensitive compliant strain sensors

An artificial muscle system includes a collapsible skeleton, a flexible skin, and a muscle actuation mechanism. The collapsible skeleton is contained inside a volume defined, at least in part, by the flexible skin. The flexible skin and the collapsible skeleton are configured for the flexible skin to provide a pulling force on the collapsible skeleton when a pressure difference exists between the inside of the sealed volume and a surrounding environment to change at least one of the dimensions and thus geometry of the collapsible skeleton. The muscle actuation mechanism includes at least one of the following to deploy or contract the collapsible skeleton: (a) a fluid displacing, releasing, or capturing mechanism configured to increase or decrease fluid pressure inside the sealed volume; and (b) a heating or cooling element configured to change the temperature of fluid in the sealed volume.

Programmable multi-scale fluidic artificial muscles and pistons

A multi-layer, super-planar laminate structure can be formed from distinctly patterned layers. The layers in the structure can include at least one rigid layer and at least one flexible layer; the rigid layer includes a plurality of rigid segments, and the flexible layer can extend between the rigid segments to serve as a joint. The layers are then stacked and bonded at selected locations to form a laminate structure with inter-layer bonds, and the laminate structure is flexed at the flexible layer between rigid segments to produce an expanded three-dimensional structure, wherein the layers are joined at the selected bonding locations and separated at other locations. A layer with electrical wiring can be included in the structure for delivering electric current to devices on or in the laminate structure.

Pop-up laminate structures with integrated electronics

Systems and methods for fabricating 3D soft microstructures. The system comprises injecting a pressurized, curable liquid into certain structural layers induces folding and allows the 2D structures to reconfigure into a 3D form In addition to the injection of a curable liquid that permanently reconfigures the structure of the system, in an embodiment this method also allows for the injection of other liquids into certain actuator layers that enable motion in certain portions of the system Furthermore, the system allows for handling of colored fluids that are passed to visualization layers. The method of creating such a system depends on taking advantage of laser machining of the individual layers to influence the behavior of how different portions bend and move.

Systems and methods for fabricating 3D soft microstructures

A method of making an actuator having a complex internal shape includes providing a core of a shape that defines an internal cavity of an actuator; molding an actuator around the core, wherein the core occupies the internal cavity of the actuator, the cavity having an opening; generating a pressure differential between an exterior surface of the actuator and the internal cavity of the actuator, wherein the external pressure is less than the internal pressure, to expand the actuator cavity; and removing the core through the opening of the expanded actuator cavity.

Soft robotic actuators and grippers

A pneumatically powered, fully untethered mobile soft robot is described. Composites consisting of silicone elastomer, polyaramid fabric, and hollow glass microspheres were used to fabricate a sufficiently large soft robot to carry the miniature air compressors, battery, valves, and controller needed for autonomous operation. Fabrication techniques were developed to mold a 0.65 meter long soft body with modified Pneumatic network actuators capable of operating at the elevated pressures (up to 138 kPa) required to actuate the legs of the robot and hold payloads of up to 8 kg. The soft robot is safe to handle, and its silicone body is innately resilient to a variety of adverse environmental conditions including snow, puddles of water, direct (albeit limited) exposure to flames, and the crushing force of being run over by an automobile.

Resilient, untethered soft robot

A wearable system is directed to neurological stimulation of a human foot, and includes a controller with at least one bias signal generator for outputting a driving signal. The system further includes a power source that provides electrical energy to the controller, including providing electrical energy to the bias signal generator. The system also includes a platform in the form of an insole insert of a shoe, the insole insert having a plurality of actuators positioned in a medial arch region of the foot. The plurality of actuators stimulate the medial arch region in response to receiving the driving signal from the controller. The stimulation of the plurality of actuators provides a subthreshold bias signal to target cells with a subthreshold bias signal magnitude that is below a threshold where the target cells are activated by a stimulus. The plurality of actuators is surrounded with a vibration dissipating material.

Insole design and actuator placement for balance and gait

A printed stretchable strain sensor comprises a seamless elastomeric body and a strain-sensitive conductive structure embedded in the seamless elastomeric body. The strain-sensitive conductive structure comprises one or more conductive filaments arranged in a continuous pattern. A method of printing a stretchable strain sensor comprises depositing one or more conductive filaments in a predetermined continuous pattern into or onto a support matrix. After the depositing, the support matrix is cured to embed a strain-sensitive conductive structure in a seamless elastomeric body.

Printed stretchable strain sensor

A pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM) actuator body can be formed from an elastic material that includes an inflatable chamber and a restraining component, such as flexible, but inextensible fibers, that causes the actuator to contract when the chamber is inflated with fluid (e.g., air or water). The actuator body can be cylindrical or flat. The actuator body can include a sensor layer formed of an elastic material including a microchannel filled with a conductive fluid to sense the expansion of the actuator body. The sensor layer can be configured to expand when the actuator body is inflated causing the electrical resistance of the conductive fluid to change. A sensor layer between the actuator body and restraining component can be used to measure changes in the contraction force of the actuator and a sensor layer outside of the restraining component can be used to measure changes in the length of the actuator.

Pneumatic sensing actuator

An elastic strain sensor can be incorporated into an artificial skin that can sense flexing by the underlying support structure of the skin to detect and track motion of the support structure. The unidirectional elastic strain sensor can be formed by filling two or more channels in an elastic substrate material with a conductive liquid. At the ends of the channels, a loop port connects the channels to form a serpentine channel. The channels extend along the direction of strain and the loop portions have sufficiently large cross-sectional area in the direction transverse to the direction of strain that the sensor is unidirectional. The resistance is measured at the ends of the serpentine channel and can be used to determine the strain on the sensor. Additional channels can be added to increase the sensitivity of the sensor. The sensors can be stacked on top of each other to increase the sensitivity of the sensor. In other embodiments, two sensors oriented in different directions can be stacked on top of each other and bonded together to form a bidirectional sensor. A third sensor formed by in the shape of a spiral or concentric rings can be stacked on top and used to sense contact or pressure, forming a three dimensional sensor. The three dimensional sensor can be incorporated into an artificial skin to provide advanced sensing.

Artificial skin and elastic strain sensor

Growing community of inventors

Cambridge, MA, United States of America

Robert J Wood