Soft Robotics in Education

Soft robotics is one of the fastest growing fields in the robotics community and its promise to revolutionize robotics in society and industry is becoming clear. Despite critical applications and use, this research field is quite young. In addition, the fabrication and operation of soft robots are fundamentally different. Soft robots are fabricated using material synthesis, while traditional robots are constructed of prefabricated, rigid materials, and they operate with mechanical assemblies. Several different technological components and disciplines are involved in soft robotics education, which presents a significant challenge. There are no existing teaching methods that cover the entire range of related knowledge because most existing approaches focus on robots with fixed morphologies and rigid structures. This paper discusses how to apply soft robotics research to robotics education and presents related challenges and perspectives.