NRI: Small: Additive Manufacturing of Soft Robot Components with Embedded Actuation and Sensing

NRI：小型：具有嵌入式驱动和传感功能的软机器人组件的增材制造

• 批准号: 1317961
• 负责人: Adam Cohen
• 金额: $ 64万
• 依托单位: Southern Methodist University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-01 至 2017-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1317961&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NRI; Small; Additive; Manufacturing; Soft

The objective of this research is to develop a new 3D printing/additive manufacturing process that will allow the direct fabrication from digital designs of integrated, multi-material devices such as soft robots with embedded actuators, sensors, and circuitry. The focus of the research will be (1) to design, prototype, characterize, optimize, and demonstrate the new process, and (2) to design, model, fabricate, and test an electromagnetic actuator and capacitive sensor made using the process. A testbed "robot printer" will be developed, along with control software and process design files. The research will require a number of technical and scientific advancements to provide the desired capabilities, including co-deposition of multiple materials in multi-layered patterns and formation of low-resistance electrical junctions. If successful, the results of this research will lead to a new manufacturing process for soft robots, an emerging class of devices promising greater safety, better manipulation of delicate and irregular objects, the ability to squeeze through small openings in search and rescue operations, etc. The challenge of manufacturing soft robotic components that include a large number of distributed actuators, sensors, and associated circuitry can be economically approached by concurrent 3-D printing with two types of materials: one that is conductive for interconnects, and the other insulating and flexible. Today's 3-D printing works with one type or the other, but not both. Overcoming this limitation would be transformative and enable a wide range of sophisticated, active structures to be readily fabricated. Beyond robotics, applications of the research include active prosthetics, minimally-invasive surgical instruments, and smart implants, as well as stretchable and wearable electronics. Undergraduate and graduate students will be heavily involved, and a partnership with the Perot Museum of Nature and Science (Dallas, TX) to develop a semi-permanent display and live demonstrations will expose a wide public audience to 3-D printing and robotics.

这项研究的目标是开发一种新的 3D 打印/增材制造工艺，允许通过数字设计直接制造集成多材料设备，例如带有嵌入式执行器、传感器和电路的软机器人。研究的重点将是（1）设计、原型、表征、优化和演示新工艺，以及（2）设计、建模、制造和测试使用该工艺制造的电磁执行器和电容式传感器。将开发测试平台“机器人打印机”以及控制软件和工艺设计文件。该研究需要大量技术和科学进步来提供所需的能力，包括以多层图案共沉积多种材料以及形成低电阻电结。如果成功，这项研究的结果将催生一种新的软机器人制造工艺，这种新兴设备有望提高安全性，更好地操纵精致和不规则的物体，能够在搜索和救援行动中挤过小开口等。制造包括大量分布式执行器、传感器和相关电路的软机器人组件的挑战可以通过使用两种材料的并发 3D 打印来经济地解决： 用于互连的导电材料，以及用于互连的绝缘材料和柔性材料。如今的 3D 打印只能使用其中一种类型，但不能同时使用两种类型。 克服这一限制将是变革性的，并且能够轻松制造各种复杂的活性结构。除了机器人技术之外，该研究的应用还包括主动假肢、微创手术器械、智能植入物以及可拉伸和可穿戴电子产品。本科生和研究生将积极参与，并与佩罗自然科学博物馆（德克萨斯州达拉斯）合作开发半永久性展示和现场演示，让广大公众了解 3D 打印和机器人技术。