Colter J. Decker

Bio: Colter J. Decker is an academic researcher from Rice University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Interfacing & Medicine. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 2 citations.

Logic-enabled textiles

Abstract: Significance Despite the tremendous potential of textiles as a robust and versatile medium for building robots and actuators that can be integrated directly into users’ clothing, embedded logic controllers made of textiles have not yet been developed, precluding the emergence of smart, fully textile-based robotic wearables. We fill this gap by developing a textile computer capable of pneumatic digital logic, onboard memory, and user interaction and demonstrate its ability to control textile-based assistive devices in response to user commands. Our logic-enabled textiles can be mass produced using existing processes and are resilient enough to withstand everyday use, potentially enabling future generations of comfortable, low-cost, and electronics-free robotic wearables for assisting the nearly one billion people worldwide currently living with disabilities.

Programmable soft valves for digital and analog control

Abstract: Significance We designed soft pneumatic valves to allow complex sequences of actuation and precise control of forces in both digital and analog formats. These valves leverage the nonlinear mechanics of soft materials. Based on this design, we created systems capable of analog pressure regulation, linear actuation, digital logic, pressure amplification, controlled oscillation, nonvolatile memory storage, and interfacing with human users. Combining digital and analog components enables control circuits with significantly fewer physical valves compared to equivalent, but strictly digital, circuits. The programmability of these valves (i.e., with tunable pressures of actuation and output) simplifies the operation of multipressure systems, helping to untether robots and create intuitive, human-friendly devices.

Programmable soft valves for digital and analog control

Abstract: Significance We designed soft pneumatic valves to allow complex sequences of actuation and precise control of forces in both digital and analog formats. These valves leverage the nonlinear mechanics of soft materials. Based on this design, we created systems capable of analog pressure regulation, linear actuation, digital logic, pressure amplification, controlled oscillation, nonvolatile memory storage, and interfacing with human users. Combining digital and analog components enables control circuits with significantly fewer physical valves compared to equivalent, but strictly digital, circuits. The programmability of these valves (i.e., with tunable pressures of actuation and output) simplifies the operation of multipressure systems, helping to untether robots and create intuitive, human-friendly devices.

A low-cost wearable device for portable sequential compression therapy

Abstract: In 2020, cardiovascular diseases resulted in 25% of unnatural deaths in the United States. Treatment with long-term administration of medication can adversely affect other organs, and surgeries such as coronary artery grafts are risky. Meanwhile, sequential compression therapy (SCT) offers a low-risk alternative, but is currently expensive and unwieldy, and often requires the patient to be immobilized during administration. Here, we present a low-cost wearable device to administer SCT, constructed using a stacked lamination fabrication approach. Expanding on concepts from the field of soft robotics, textile sheets are thermally bonded to form pneumatic actuators, which are controlled by an inconspicuous and tetherless electronic onboard supply of pressurized air. Our open-source, low-profile, and lightweight (140 g) device costs $62, less than one-third the cost the least expensive alternative and one-half the weight of lightest alternative approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), presenting the opportunity to more effectively provide SCT to socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals. Furthermore, our textile-stacking method, inspired by conventional fabrication methods from the apparel industry, along with the lightweight fabrics used, allows the device to be worn more comfortably than other SCT devices. By reducing physical and financial encumbrances, the device presented in this work may better enable patients to treat cardiovascular diseases and aid in recovery from cardiac surgeries.

A three-terminal magnetic thermal transistor

Abstract: Three-terminal thermal analogies to electrical transistors have been proposed for use in thermal amplification, thermal switching, or thermal logic, but have not yet been demonstrated experimentally. Here, we design and fabricate a three-terminal magnetic thermal transistor in which the gate temperature controls the source-drain heat flow by toggling the source-drain thermal conductance from ON to OFF. The centimeter-scale thermal transistor uses gate-temperature dependent magnetic forces to actuate motion of a thermally conducting shuttle, providing thermal contact between source and drain in the ON state while breaking contact in the OFF state. We measure source-drain thermal switch ratios of 109 ± 44 in high vacuum with gate switching temperatures near 25 °C. Thermal measurements show that small heat flows into the gate can be used to drive larger heat flows from source to drain, and that the switching is reversible over >150 cycles. Proof-of-concept thermal circuit demonstrations show that magnetic thermal transistors can enable passive or active heat flow routing or can be combined to create Boolean thermal logic gates. This work will allow thermal researchers to explore the behavior of nonlinear thermal circuits using three-terminal transistors and will motivate further research developing thermal transistors for advanced thermal control.