Abstract:
Soft robotics is an expanding new research field. This article presents a state-of-the-art review on soft robotics including its research directions, key characteristics, materials, design and fabrication techniques. Although many biomimetic soft robots have been developed, a few of these have industrial applications. This article proposes a soft XY machine table for the purpose of object manipulation. The proposed table combines the concepts from three areas: soft robotics, object manipulation and industrial application. The surface of proposed table is entirely soft and embedded with inflatable air chambers. Surface deformation is generated by inflating these chambers. One object manipulation approach is to generate travelling waves on the deformable surface.