Making Biscuits

A Soft Robot for addressing chronic pain
A group of differently shaped patches of fabric with air pockets sealed in.
Project Overview
Making Biscuits is a soft robot made inspired by the defunct principles of the Gate Control Theory of Pain. The goal is to provide non-medicinal pain relief for chronic pain patients. Current methods of long term pain relief can have a variety of issues, from being ineffective to causing more pain or drug addiction. This project was meant to explore if automatic physical manipulation could help. Although the details of the hard science behind the theory has been disproven, the applied principles are still useful.

The project gets it's name from, and was inspired by the therapeutic effect of a cat kneading.
The Biscuit Maker is made of Urethane coated nylon, chosen for it's strength, ease of custom shaping/conformation, and comfort. It also allows for variable design depending on where the users pain is located. The straps that hold the robot to the skin ensure that the material expands inwards, applying force in a more targeted manner.

In each image, you'll see drawn circles. These highlight where there are pockets of air, filled and emptied by a programmable pump.
Role
Solo Project
Feb 2022
A patch of fabric with air pockets sealed in.A patch of fabric with air pockets sealed in.