Soft Non-Volatile Memory for Non-Electronic Information Storage in Soft Robots

Markus P. Nemitz, Christoffer K. Abrahamsson, Lukas Wille, Adam A. Stokes, Daniel J. Preston, George M. Whitesides

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract / Description of output

Pneumatically operated soft robots require complex infrastructure for their operation: microcontrollers must control hard pneumatic valves via power electronics. Although soft digital logic gates based on soft valves have been demonstrated as a replacement for electronic control, the development of memory from logic gates is cumbersome (three logic gates with mono-stable membranes for the development of a single S-R latch), and such memory is only capable of holding, but not storing, information; after a power reset, the membranes relax to their idle states, and the information is lost. In this work, we introduce a soft memory device with a bistable membrane that allows the permanent storage of binary information in soft materials, and we demonstrate its writing and erasing operations. We also introduce a new type of pneumatically-driven soft display, the soft bubble display. We connect the display to our soft memory device to visualize the information that is held in the memory. Our work highlights the importance of material-based memory and its future use for programming soft robots.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2020 3rd IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics, RoboSoft 2020
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Pages7-12
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9781728165707
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Jun 2020
Event3rd IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics, RoboSoft 2020 - New Haven, United States
Duration: 15 May 202015 Jul 2020

Publication series

Name2020 3rd IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics, RoboSoft 2020

Conference

Conference3rd IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics, RoboSoft 2020
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityNew Haven
Period15/05/2015/07/20

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • sequential logic
  • soft bubble display
  • Soft computation

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