Desktop Printing of Soft Robots with Integrated Fluidic Control Circuits

软体机器人在灵巧操作、复杂环境下的运动以及与人类的安全互动等方面有着广阔的应用前景。然而，软机器人的控制通常需要复杂的部件，如泵、阀门和电子设备，这使得它们的制造和回收既困难又昂贵。该奖项支持研究，以了解如何打印软机器人（包括他们的身体，执行器和控制电路）在一块单一的材料，使用市售的桌面3D打印机。一个关键的创新是用嵌入式电路来控制机器人，这种电路使用压缩气体而不是电力，用软的3D打印组件作为晶体管、传感器等。通过这项工作获得的知识将通过提供一种制造机器人的新方法来推进机器人科学，这种机器人可以一次打印在消费级硬件上，并可以立即投入使用。这项研究将促进国家健康、繁荣和福利，使廉价的软机器人设备能够快速发展，以适应现实世界的应用，包括教育、环境监测、医疗设备和太空探索。研究结果可能会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进行多学科研究，包括机器人、流体力学和材料科学，以及向K-12学生提供STEM外展的机会，重点是包括代表性不足的群体成员的学生。软机器人的制造以前需要复杂的制造工艺，特殊的材料，或者两者兼而有之。本研究旨在利用商用软材料（热塑性聚氨酯）进行流行的台式挤出（熔融长丝）3D打印，实现具有嵌入式流体控制电路的单片打印功能软机器人。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。组件刚度将通过不同的几何形状来调整。一个开源的设计工具将编码设计规则实现功能气动元件与挤压打印。随后将对基础物理进行调查，将设计参数连接到一组基本的3D打印气动元件的性能。这种经验将随后用于打印控制软机器人所需的集成气动元件。最后，积累的知识将使功能的单片3D打印，灵活的软机器人与嵌入式传感器和反馈控制电路。该项目由跨部门机器人基础研究项目支持，由工程（ENG）和计算机与信息科学与工程（CISE）联合管理和资助。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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.