Final Presentation

Nico Bellucci

Ribbon-Core Casting

Nico Bellucci

Soft Robotics Exploration

This project is a continuation of my Winter Session I project. In that studio, we collaborated with the Perkins School for the Blind and a soft robotics lab at MIT. My project was a gamified climbing wall that uses tactile feedback to help players navigate the wall. Each handhold communicates the location of the next hold in the climb. After the project concluded, the team from the MIT lab was impressed and encouraged by my work and expressed interest in continuing to collaborate with me through OI. After extensive research and brainstorming, I developed an idea that builds upon a technology called LVC. LVC is a method of creating soft robotic components using low-volume cores to form the internal geometry. These cores are made from thin plastic sheets, which allows them to bend flat and slide out of the molded part with minimal force. My innovation is called Ribbon Core. Instead of designing the core as a central spine with multiple fins attached that require meticulous assembly, the core can be 3D printed in a shape that somewhat resembles a square wave. The spacing between each segment of the square wave must be tuned so the layers adhere during printing but can still be peeled apart when needed. The demolding process is particularly interesting. The first fin separates and slips out of the cavity it formed. Then the next fin follows, and then the next, until the structure becomes a straight strip of plastic that can easily slide out of the mold. The core unwraps like a ribbon, hence the name, Ribbon-Core. Because this method is highly automated and easy to manufacture on hobbyist-level machines, and because it uses a widely accessible and easy-to-print material, PLA, the system is both scalable and accessible.v