Sprout: Demonstration of Soft Expressive Robot
Amy Koike, Michael J. Wehner, Bilge Mutlu · 2024
We demonstrate a social robot named Sprout, which is capable of changing the shape of its body as a way of expression. The development of Sprout aims to explore the creation of novel expressions for social robots, leveraging techniques from the field of soft robotics. To create body deformation, we employ a fiber-embedded soft actuator as Sprout's body. We designed six expressions with four types of deformations. Visitors can experience Sprout being animated by its control system during our demonstration. Additionally, picture panels are incorporated to visually guide visitors through the fabrication process of Sprout, providing insight into the underlying scientific principles.