FlowIO Development Platform – the Pneumatic “Raspberry Pi” for Soft Robotics

FlowIO Development Platform – the Pneumatic “Raspberry Pi” for Soft Robotics Ali Shtarbanov CHI ’21: The 2021 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Session: Student Research Competition 1st Round - F Abstract FlowIO is a miniature, modular, pneumatic development platform with a software toolkit for control, actuation, and sensing of soft robots and programmable materials. Five pneumatic ports and multiple fully-integrated modules to satisfy various pressure, flow, and size requirements make FlowIO suitable for most wearable and non-wearable pneumatic applications in HCI and soft robotics. FlowIO includes a software stack with APIs, Bluetooth capabilities, and web-GUI supported on all major mobile and desktop operating systems. The system is fully compatible with Arduino, JavaScript, and Google Chrome, while support for Scratch, Python, and Unity is planned for future development, making FlowIO suitable for makers from any technical background. Over a dozen people have used the FlowIO plat