Batoid: Biomimetic Soft Robot with Gesture Control
“Batoid” is a biomimetic soft robot inspired by the fluid movement of stingrays, featuring a flexible 3D printed mesh structure. It mimics stingray propulsion using servo motors and a ball mechanism actuated with gesture-based control. This robot was created during the Course Week at MOME, Budapest, in February 2024 by Camille Vad, Lola Orban, Viktoria Biki.
The Concept
Our aim was to design a soft robot that replicates the movement of batoids, a group of sea creatures that includes stingrays. These creatures are characterized by their flat bodies, large pectoral fins, and a flexible skeleton made of strong, elastic cartilage, which aids in their body’s bending and movement.
The Robot
The structure of the robot is crafted from a 3d printed circle fabric mesh, allowing the Stingray’s body to be lightweight and highly flexible, enabling smooth movements over the surface.
Stingrays execute their propelling motion using the pectoral fins positioned at their sides. Two balls are connected to two servo motors on the sides of the mesh to make it move. The movement of the mesh is safeguarded by the rolling motion of a number of balls that rotate inside the bowls. The motors are actuated with gestures through computer vision connected with the help of Arduino to TouchDesigner visual controller.
Interactions
Stingrays typically prefer not to be touched. Their skin is susceptible, and they often interpret touch as a potential threat or an act of aggression. There are instances where they might react defensively if they sense danger. This is why we chose a touchless type of interaction with gestures. The Batiod is controlled via hand gestures which get recognized through computer vision in Touchdesigner. This enables registering different types of hand gestures by mapping the hands with the computer’s webcam. For our batoid we decided it would be controlled by holding up your left palm activates the left side motor and holding up the right palm activates the right side motor. This ensures easy control because to stop the motors, you simply close one hand or both into a fist in front of the computer’s webcam so that it no longer recognizes the palm of a hand.
Team: Camille Vad, Lola Orban, Viktoria Biki.
MOME, Budapest, February 2024.