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/添加制造工艺，该工艺将允许从数字设计直接制造集成的多材料设备，例如带有嵌入式致动器、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。将开发一台试验台“机器人打印机”，以及控制软件和工艺设计文件。这项研究将需要一些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和形成低阻电结。如果成功，这项研究的结果将导致软机器人的新制造工艺，一种新兴的设备类别，承诺更大的安全性，更好地操纵微妙和不规则的物体，能够从搜索和救援行动中的小开口中挤出来，等等。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同时使用两种类型的材料来经济地解决：一种是互连的导电材料，另一种是绝缘的灵活材料。如今的3D打印只适用于一种类型，但不能同时适用于两种类型。克服这一限制将是变革性的，并使各种复杂的、主动的结构能够很容易地制造出来。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、智能植入物以及可伸展和可穿戴的电子产品。本科生和研究生将大量参与其中，与佩罗自然与科学博物馆(德克萨斯州达拉斯)合作开发半永久性展示和现场演示将使广大公众观众接触到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.