Nature redux: interrogating biomorphism and soft robot aesthetics through generative AI

Front Robot AI. 2024 Oct 25:11:1472051. doi: 10.3389/frobt.2024.1472051. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has rapidly become a widespread design aid through the recent proliferation of generative AI tools. In this work we use generative AI to explore soft robotics designs, specifically Soft Biomorphism, an aesthetic design paradigm emphasizing the inherent biomorphic qualities of soft robots to leverage them as affordances for interactions with humans. The work comprises two experiments aimed at uncovering how generative AI can articulate and expand the design space of soft biomorphic robotics using text-to-image (TTI) and image-to-image (ITI) generation techniques. Through TTI generation, Experiment 1 uncovered alternative interpretations of soft biomorphism, emphasizing the novel incorporation of, e.g., fur, which adds a new dimension to the material aesthetics of soft robotics. In Experiment 2, TTI and ITI generation were combined and a category of hybrid techno-organic robot designs discovered, which combined rigid and pliable materials. The work thus demonstrates in practice the specific ways in which AI image generation can contribute towards expanding the design space of soft robotics.

Keywords: biomorphism; design aesthetics; generative artificial intelligence; robot design; soft robotics.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Funding for carrying out the research was provided by the University of Southern Denmark, Digital Autonomous Production (SDU I4.0 DAP) program.