Soft Robotics - Week 7 (03/07/2025)

Programmable Air - Part 2

This week's assignment:

​Create an example 1) using onboard pressure sensing OR 2) attach an sensor for interaction OR 3) use a sensor for feedback OR 4) connecting 2 boards to build more functionality

For this assignment I decided to attach a time of flight sensor to the air pump and map the sensor range to suck or blow. The closer to the sensor, the harder the pump sucks, the further away from the sensor, the harder the pump blows.

First: Some testing and troubleshooting

During this assignment, I spent at least 30 minutes troubleshooting the time of flight (ToF) sensor. I kept getting the programmed error message "Sensor not responding. Check wiring".

​I cross referenced the Pcomp labs for wiring information as well as example code. Eventually I realized that the ToF sensor I had connected to the microcontroller was the VL53L1X rather than the VL53L0X. The library I had installed on my Arduino IDE and called in my program matched the Pcomp resources which was for the older ToF sensor.  

In the first half of the video below, the sensor range was set too small (0 - 300) and was easily sensing out of range - meaning that the sucking action was performing consistently, while the blowing sequence would frequently glitch which can be heard through the clicking of the valves switching on and off. Half way through, I turn off the motor to reprogram the range to be larger (0 - 500), which allowed more consistence performance.
​
Towards the end you are able to see the inflation/deflation speeds accelerate when the hand is either farther or closer to the sensor. When the hand is close to the center, there may be slight airflow, but it is slight and not noticeable in a short period of time.

Source Code: