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

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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.