Author: qiyuanz@andrew.cmu.edu

Dunn Zhang and Elliot Frankel 53399 Creative Soft Robotics Project Objectives The objective of this project was to utilize soft materials and a material class called “auxetics” to demonstrate the ways that shape and form can create unexpected actions and reactions. These metamaterials, so called due to their properties depending on their shape as well
Continue reading Soft Auxetic Mesh

Our current goal is to produce a soft material-based structure that can change internal volume when forces such as tension or compression are experienced. The images below are patterns we experiment with, which have the effect we hoped to achieve to some extent. The images above are our first 3D-printed test cases, printed with soft
Continue reading Proof of Concept – Dunn & Elliot

Soft-Actuation Based Dynamic Facade for Building Performance Our concept is to create a soft-actuation-driven dynamic architectural facade element that enhances building performance. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has established a goal for 2030: all proposed and built projects must be net-zero. Whether or not that is achievable is not within the scope of this
Continue reading Project Overview – Dunn & Elliot

This prototype is unrelated to the project Elliot, and I are working on. Instead, an experiment in learning the mold design process and the silicon cast workflow. In the final product, there will be a chamber inside that gets wider in the middle and skinnier towards the two ends. And, in theory, when pumped with
Continue reading Mold Design Workshop – Dunn

Project: Al Bahar Towers (https://architizer.com/projects/al-bahr-towers/) Abu Dhabi (Completed June 2012) The Al Bahar Towers’ dynamic facade design drastically reduces the building’s direct solar exposure, internal heat gain, energy expenditure, and elemental damages such as sand erosion. The facade is an external curtain wall, offset from the glazing by two meters. The design of the panels
Continue reading Infusing Art with Technology – Dunn

This is actually the project of my current architecture professor, the former head of the School of Architecture, Steve Lee’s project. It was done when he was a sophomore at CMU (1979), alongside other students; some became my other professors. This project investigates the affordance of using robust and elastic membrane materials to construct scaffolding,
Continue reading Dunn Art and Design Inspirations

DOI: 10.1109/HSI47298.2019.8942609 No  No Knowledge  Though not related to soft robotics on the surface. This paper is the foundation for more human-soft-robots collaboration and interaction. The main concern of human-robot collaboration is safety, as typical robots are made from hard materials, which can easily cause major damage to the human body. Soft, complaint materials, combined with
Continue reading Dunn’s Peer Review

I used the paper “Autonomous Soft Robotic Fish Capable of Escape Maneuvers Using Fluidic Elastomer Actuators”, cited in “Design, fabrication and control of soft robots” by Rus and Tolley as the root. From there, I used Web of Science to access all the papers that cited the root paper. The root paper had over 500
Continue reading Lateral Literature Search Dunn

Paper 1 Venous Materials: Towards Interactive Fluidic Mechanisms Synopsis: Venous Materials are a novel concept of an interactive material using fluidic mechanisms that responds to deformations generated by user. Hila Mor, Tianyu Yu, Ken Nakagaki, Benjamin Harvey Miller, Yichen Jia, and Hiroshi Ishii. Venous Materials: Towards Interactive Fluidic Mechanisms. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI
Continue reading Qiyuan (Dunn)’s Blog Post for HW1