Sensing the World
Exploring Wearable Technology through Soft Robotics
INT93-LS Summer 2020
Summer Research Academies at UCSB
Disciplines: Soft Sensor, Wearable Computing, and Soft Robotics.
Conventional wearable robots designed with rigid materials, such as metal and hard plastic, are often limited by their lower flexibility, functionality, and biological compatibility. With sensory technology and novel materials, can we rethink the wearable device as a soft and organic interface? In this course, we will focus on the emerging field of soft robotics, bringing together research and applications of wearable technology. We will discuss the soft wearable applications in art, communication, fitness, entertainment, medicine, and sports, and so on. Through a series of hands-on activities, students will explore digital fabrication, soft motion mechanisms, soft actuation, and wearable sensors. By the end of the course, students will design, model, and build a digital wearable device, and analyze the human-robot interaction.
Instructor
Yin Yu
Teaching Assistant
Diarmid Flatley
Syllabus (UCSB's students access only)