2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper explores the potential of using soft robotics as a tool for fundamental robotic education, particularly in early academic settings. Soft robotics is regarded as a subfield of robotics. It focuses on how to use highly flexible and deformable materials on designing and fabricating devices. The soft robots could simulate the movement of biological organisms such as worms. Traditional robots are typically constructed with rigid components such as metal and plastics, in contrast, the soft robots are made from materials like silicone, rubber, gels, or other elastic materials. These materials allow the robots to have more degrees of freedom and are able to bend and stretch into different shapes, which the traditional robot cannot achieve. For example, a soft robotic gripper is able to safe handling of delicate objects with less risk of breaking, in comparison with rigid grippers.

Traditional robotic systems also can be seen as intimidating for beginners, as it involved complex structure and control algorithm. Soft robotics, with its flexible materials and bio-inspired designs, are able to offer a more accessible and engaging learning approach to fundamental robotics concepts such as kinematics, sensing, as well as control systems.

This study investigated the educational benefits of organizing soft robotics workshops for undergraduate students from Mechanical Engineering and other disciplines. By integrating soft robotics into the undergraduate curriculum, students would have an immersive learning experience to interdisciplinary fields such as material science, healthcare, and engineering. This would encourage a much deeper understanding of robotics principles. The student feedbacks indicated that the soft robotics workshop was able to simplify complex robotic ideas, encourage hands-on learning, and stimulate design creativity.