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.2007.90...

[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


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Electronic Ring Oscillator -    • Step by step build Ring Oscillator with 3 ...  


🎵 Music Credits:

Dancing In The Rain by Zambolino | https://freetouse.com/music/zambolino
Free To Use | https://freetouse.com/music
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Jasmine Tea by Filo Starquez |    / @filostarquez  
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Meditative by MaxKoMusic | https://maxkomusic.com/
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Storyblocks Audio


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