Desktop Printing of Soft Robots with Integrated Fluidic Control Circuits

软体机器人具有良好的应用前景，包括灵巧的操作，在复杂环境中的运动，以及与人类的安全互动。然而，软机器人的控制通常需要复杂的部件，例如泵、阀和电子器件，使得它们的制造和回收变得困难和昂贵。该奖项支持研究如何使用商用桌面3D打印机将软机器人（包括其身体，致动器和控制电路）从单一材料中打印出来。一个关键的创新是用嵌入式电路控制机器人，这些电路在压缩气体而不是电力上运行，软3D打印组件充当晶体管，传感器等，通过这项工作获得的知识将通过提供一种新的方法来推进机器人科学制造机器人，可以在消费级硬件上一次性打印并立即投入使用。该研究将通过快速开发适合现实世界应用的廉价软机器人设备来促进国民健康，繁荣和福利，包括教育，环境监测，医疗设备和太空探索。这些结果可能进一步导致未来的机器人完全可回收或可生物降解。该奖项还将提供机会，教育和培训研究生和本科生的多学科研究，包括机器人，流体力学和材料科学，以及机会，STEM推广到K-12学生，重点是包括学生谁是代表性不足的群体的成员。软机器人的制造以前需要复杂的制造工艺，奇异的材料，或两者兼而有之。这项研究的目的是实现单片印刷功能软机器人与嵌入式流体控制电路使用流行的桌面挤出（熔丝）3D打印从商业上可用的软材料（热塑性聚氨酯）。使用加压气体作为驱动和计算的能源，这项工作将消除对组装或多材料3D打印的需求。组件刚度将通过改变几何形状进行调整。一个开源设计工具将编码设计规则，用于通过挤出打印实现功能性气动元件。随后将研究将设计参数与一组基本3D打印气动元件性能相联系的基础物理学。这一经验随后将用于打印控制软机器人所需的集成气动元件。最后，累积的知识将使功能，灵活的软机器人与嵌入式传感器和反馈控制电路的单片3D打印成为可能。该项目由机器人跨董事会基础研究计划支持，由工程局（ENG）和计算机与信息科学与工程局（CISE）共同管理和资助该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Soft bodied robots have promising applications including dexterous manipulation, locomotion in complex environments, and safe interaction with humans. However, the control of soft robots has typically required complicated components such as pumps, valves, and electronics making them difficult and expensive to manufacture and recycle. This award supports research to understand how to print soft robots (including their body, actuators, and control circuitry) in one piece out of a single material, using commercially available desktop 3D printers. A key innovation is to control the robots with embedded circuits that run on compressed gas rather than electricity, with soft 3D printed components acting as transistors, sensors, etc. The knowledge gained through this work will advance the science of robotics by providing a new approach to the manufacture of robots that can be printed all at once on consumer grade hardware and can go into operation immediately. The research will advance national health, prosperity, and welfare by enabling the rapid development of inexpensive soft robotic devices tailored to real-world applications, including for education, environmental monitoring, medical devices, and space exploration. The outcomes could further lead to future robots that are fully recyclable or biodegradable. This award will also provide opportunities to educate and train graduate and undergraduate students in multidisciplinary research incorporating robotics, fluid mechanics, and materials science, as well as opportunities for STEM outreach to K-12 students, with a focus on including students who are members of the underrepresented groups.The fabrication of soft robots has previously required complex fabrication processes, exotic materials, or both. This research aims to achieve monolithically printed functional soft robots with embedded fluidic control circuits using popular desktop extrusion (fused filament) 3D printing from commercially available soft materials (thermoplastic polyurethanes). Using a pressurized gas as an energy source for both actuation and computation, this work will eliminate the need for assembly or multi-material 3D printing. Component stiffness will be tuned by varying geometry. An open-source design tool will encode design rules for achieving functional pneumatic components with extrusion printing. This will be followed by an investigation of the underlying physics connecting design parameters to the performance of a fundamental set of 3D printed pneumatic components. This experience will be subsequently used to print integrated pneumatic components required for the control of soft robots. Finally, the cumulative knowledge will enable the monolithic 3D printing of functional, agile soft robots with embedded sensors and feedback control circuits.This project is supported by the cross-directorate Foundational Research in Robotics program, jointly managed and funded by the Directorates for Engineering (ENG) and Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.