title: Design and control of fluidic machines
Creators: name: Skottis, Ioannis
Publisher: name: The University of Edinburgh
Year: 2025
Subjects: subject: Fluidic systems
subject: Automation tools
subject: Design and manufacturing
subject: Pneumatic and hydraulic robots
subject: Advanced manufacturing methods

description: Fluidic systems, utilising pneumatics and hydraulics for both actuation and computation, represent a significant advancement in robotics technology. Pneumatic robots, composed of soft materials such as silicone, excel in applications requiring compliance, such as rehabilitation, the food and hospitality industries, agriculture, forestry management, and personal robotics. Conversely, hydraulic robots, noted for their high power-output, are ideal for industrial applications, including construction, manufacturing, search and rescue, and nuclear decommissioning. Fluidic control systems offer advantages over electronics in high-radiation environments (e.g. MRI machines, nuclear reactors, space exploration) and explosive atmospheres (e.g. oil rig platforms, gas leaks), acting as complementary technologies rather than replacements for electronics. Despite their potential to enhance safety and quality of life, the widespread adoption and rapid iteration of fluidic robots are impeded by the challenges in democratising access and leveraging economies of scale. The principle guiding this research is to "Use the best tool for the job". Effective design and automation tools are crucial due to the computational intensity of tasks like placement and routing, and the time-consuming, error-prone, and expertise-demanding nature of the design process. Existing tools, primarily designed for electronics, are often proprietary and difficult to adapt. The hardware sector lags behind modern software development, such as using type theory techniques to enhance design safety, adopting new computing platforms (GPU, FPGA) for algorithm acceleration, and improved tooling for productivity. This research aims to prototype design and automation tools for fluidic circuits by integrating methodologies from software engineering and digital design automation. By employing advanced manufacturing methods such as laser cutting, 3D printing, and CNC machining and by integrating design all the way from concept to manufacturing, this research addresses the omissions and inefficiencies of current fluidic system design. The objective is to transform textual descriptions of control architectures into manufacturing instructions for fluidic control circuits. The contributions of this thesis include: (i) a literature review of existing design and manufacturing techniques, the use of (ii) placement and (iii) routing algorithms to automate physical design automation tasks, (iv) the development of a standardised component library of fluidic components (using parametric CAD), (v) routines to convert the spatial description of a circuit into 3D CAD model and (vi) subsequently into G-code commands. Furthermore, the thesis introduces a (vii) visual platform for the development and troubleshooting of and packaging methodologies. This work lays the groundwork for fluidic circuit design and automation, facilitating broader application and innovation in the field.