I Printed a Microchip That Runs on Air — A Nervous System for Squishy Robots!

A microchip that runs on air instead of electricity: 3D-printed logic circuits that power walking soft robots.
First we build air transistors and resistors, then combine them into a logic gate, and finally chain them into a 5-stage ring oscillator. The result? A circuit that doesn’t just compute… it walks! A first step toward a nervous system for our squishy robots.

🔊 Re-uploaded due to an audio issue in the first version — this one’s fixed. Thanks to everyone who commented on the first upload, I read them all!

Timestamps:

0:00 – A Microchip That Runs on Air
2:26 – The Squishy Wafer
3:45 – Vacuum Transistors
7:17 – Printing Air Resistors
8:56 – The Inverter: Flipping Signals with Air
10:37 – The Ring Oscillator Comes Alive
12:27 – Walking on Air (Literally)


📚 References & Sources:

[1] Jensen, E. C., Grover, W. H., & Mathies, R. A. (2007). Micropneumatic Digital Logic Structures for Integrated Microdevice Computation and Control. Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, 16(6), 1378–1385. https://doi.org/10.1109/jmems.2007.906080

[2] Balaji, V., Castro, K., & Folch, A. (2018). A Laser-Engraving Technique for Portable Micropneumatic Oscillators. Micromachines, 9(9), 426. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi9090426

[3] Duncan, P. N., Nguyen, T. V., & Hui, E. E. (2013). Pneumatic oscillator circuits for timing and control of integrated microfluidics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(45), 18104–18109. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1310254110

[4] Duncan, P. N., Ahrar, S., & Hui, E. E. (2015). Scaling of pneumatic digital logic circuits. Lab on a Chip, 15(5), 1360–1365. https://doi.org/10.1039/c4lc01048e


🎥 Featured Videos & Inspiration:

Salamander X-Ray Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMWMJ1wv9w4

Microfluidic Elastomeric Valves – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koYJcHDl0QI

Electronic Ring Oscillator - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E94b7zugUDs


🎵 Music Credits:

Dancing In The Rain by Zambolino | https://freetouse.com/music/zambolino
Free To Use | https://freetouse.com/music
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

Jasmine Tea by Filo Starquez | https://www.youtube.com/@FiloStarquez
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/

Meditative by MaxKoMusic | https://maxkomusic.com/
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US

Storyblocks Audio


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