US 12,441,040 B2
Bubble casting soft robotics
Pierre-Thomas Brun, Princeton, NJ (US); Trevor J. Jones, Princeton, NJ (US); Etienne Jambon-Puillet, Paris (FR); and Joel Marthelot, Marseilles (FR)
Assigned to The Trustees of Princeton University, Princeton, NJ (US)
Filed by The Trustees of Princeton University, Princeton, NJ (US)
Filed on Jun. 22, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/212,937.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/354,538, filed on Jun. 22, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2023/0415390 A1, Dec. 28, 2023
Int. Cl. B29C 45/17 (2006.01); F15B 15/08 (2006.01); B29K 83/00 (2006.01); B29L 31/00 (2006.01)
CPC B29C 45/1704 (2013.01) [F15B 15/08 (2013.01); B29C 2045/1719 (2013.01); B29C 2045/1724 (2013.01); B29K 2083/00 (2013.01); B29L 2031/748 (2013.01)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for assembly and programming of soft robots, comprising:
generating a flooded channel by injecting a liquid undergoing solidification into a channel or a channel network of a mold, wherein the channel network comprises a plurality of channels;
injecting a bubble into the flooded channel prior to solidification to create a cavity; and
forming a target component by allowing a portion of the liquid in an annulus deposited on the mold after bubble injection to drain downward and curing the liquid undergoing solidification, and rotating portions of the mold relative to each other around a gelation point of the liquid undergoing solidification.