|Digital Matter
|SoAr
Chitosan as the future of water filtration system
|Team
Aysel Abasova, Deepak Sundaram, Sri Sai Tarun Kovuru
|Faculty
Areti Markopoulou, David Andres Leon, Raimund Krenmueller,
|Project year
2018-19
Soar is a material system that looks for an alternative to rigidity. It is derived from soft robots who are generally actuated with pneumatics or liquids. Soar works with a liquid that evaporates at low temperatures, an elastic polymer that traps this liquid in the form of bubbles. In this research, these materials are alcohol and silicon. The ingredients of this system allow it to respond to the heat of the sun thus making it passive. It doesn’t need any additional energy and it is never constant. The wind, the angle of the sun and the moisture all play a role on how the actuators will react so it is safe to say that no two actuators will behave identically, giving it the illusion of being alive. This research concentrates on how these soft robots could be controlled, what properties they possess and what could be their future use.
The research explores how a naturally responsive and pliable system can provoke a transformation in our perception of the built environment.
The objective was to activate the system using solar heat and explore its limits and capabilities, with experiments conducted using an Infrared lamp as a substitute for sunlight. The enhanced material system comprises a silicon-alcohol mix and a glass fiber mesh. Throughout the series of experiments, the research aimed to enhance the softbot’s functionality, exploring various material compositions, geometries, and structural frameworks. Initial improvements focused on optimizing the softbots’ geometry to increase alcohol volume for inflation, leading to better results in terms of achieved inflation with less temperature but increased time. Experimentation with different meshes, including aluminum and glass fiber, revealed the softbot’s limitations in bending stiffer materials like aluminum, highlighting the need for further enhancement.
Additional tests incorporated stitching patterns onto softbot prototypes, aiming to reduce fabrication time and complexity while achieving diverse bending actions. Despite successful control of forces through stitching, challenges emerged concerning alcohol loss upon needle penetration and restrictions affecting movement due to excessive material usage.
The final softbots were placed on this tensile structure with the radiation analysis information gathered from a grasshopper plugin (LadyBug). The four-legged softbot was placed on the maximum sunlight hour zone since it provides more openings yet less sunlight inside the structure.
The three-legged softbots are situated on the medium sunlight hour zone and the two-legged ones are in the minimum sunlight hour zone since they provide big openings and let the evening sun in.
Every day, the world accelerates its pace, driving increased consumption and demands. To ensure societal function and planetary preservation, almost everything, including our built environment, necessitates smart adaptations to climate and societal changes. Further material research aims to replicate the developed material system using sustainable components, transitioning from silicon. Graphene, in its black nanoplate form, offers potential, expected to become more accessible in its transparent, one-atom-thick structure. This atomic-level graphene demonstrates a lower specific heat value, suggesting heightened responsiveness to minimal solar heat.
