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

这项研究的目标是开发一种新的3D打印/增材制造工艺，该工艺将允许从集成的多材料设备的数字设计中直接制造，例如具有嵌入式致动器，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致动器和电容传感器。将开发一个试验台“机器人打印机”，沿着控制软件和工艺设计文件。这项研究将需要一系列技术和科学进步来提供所需的能力，包括多层图案中多种材料的共沉积和低电阻电结的形成。如果成功，这项研究的结果将导致软机器人的新制造工艺，这是一类新兴的设备，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压通过小开口等。和相关的电路可以通过同时3D打印两种类型的材料来经济地接近：一种是用于互连的导电材料，另一种是绝缘和柔性的。今天的3D打印只适用于一种类型，而不是两种类型。 克服这一限制将是变革性的，并使广泛的复杂的，积极的结构，易于制造。除了机器人技术，这项研究的应用还包括主动假肢、微创手术器械和智能植入物，以及可拉伸和可穿戴电子产品。本科生和研究生将大量参与，并与佩罗自然科学博物馆（达拉斯，得克萨斯州）的合作伙伴关系，以开发一个半永久性的显示和现场演示，将向广大公众展示3D打印和机器人技术。

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.