Addressing the urgent need for sustainability in robotics requires a fundamental shift in how we approach fabrication, material use, and prototyping. This chapter introduces a novel approach to this challenge by demonstrating sustainable fabrication workflows for soft robotics, enabled by our CopyCut system. CopyCut is a vision-based digital fabrication tool that seamlessly bridges physical and digital workflows. Using a simple camera mounted above a CNC machine, it captures images of existing physical objects—from handmade templates and free-form sketches to material offcuts—and instantly converts their contours into vector paths ready for cutting. This process circumvents the often time-consuming and skill-intensive step of digital recreation in CAD software. By empowering designers to work directly with physical artifacts, CopyCut transforms potential waste into valuable design assets. Through a series of hands-on workshops and participant-driven design exercises, we investigated how this capability facilitates material reuse, rapid iteration, and creative customization in soft robotics. Our analysis of these sessions reveals key insights into how this hybrid workflow not only minimizes material waste but also enhances the creative design process. It effectively lowers the barrier to entry for physical prototyping and fosters a more intuitive, exploratory approach to robotic construction. Ultimately, this chapter contributes a tangible methodology and critical reflections on the intersection of digital fabrication, material efficiency, and robotic design. We invite researchers, designers, and educators to adopt and build upon these practices, shaping a more environmentally responsible and creatively dynamic future for robotics.

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CopyCut Robots: Analog and Digital Workflows for Sustainable Soft Robot Design

  • Timothy Merritt,
  • Stine S. Johansen,
  • Jakob Andersen,
  • Jesper Ravn-Nielsen,
  • Thomas Egon Kaergaard

摘要

Addressing the urgent need for sustainability in robotics requires a fundamental shift in how we approach fabrication, material use, and prototyping. This chapter introduces a novel approach to this challenge by demonstrating sustainable fabrication workflows for soft robotics, enabled by our CopyCut system. CopyCut is a vision-based digital fabrication tool that seamlessly bridges physical and digital workflows. Using a simple camera mounted above a CNC machine, it captures images of existing physical objects—from handmade templates and free-form sketches to material offcuts—and instantly converts their contours into vector paths ready for cutting. This process circumvents the often time-consuming and skill-intensive step of digital recreation in CAD software. By empowering designers to work directly with physical artifacts, CopyCut transforms potential waste into valuable design assets. Through a series of hands-on workshops and participant-driven design exercises, we investigated how this capability facilitates material reuse, rapid iteration, and creative customization in soft robotics. Our analysis of these sessions reveals key insights into how this hybrid workflow not only minimizes material waste but also enhances the creative design process. It effectively lowers the barrier to entry for physical prototyping and fosters a more intuitive, exploratory approach to robotic construction. Ultimately, this chapter contributes a tangible methodology and critical reflections on the intersection of digital fabrication, material efficiency, and robotic design. We invite researchers, designers, and educators to adopt and build upon these practices, shaping a more environmentally responsible and creatively dynamic future for robotics.