Hybrid 3D printing systems for soft robotics

软机器人是一种机器人学研究，旨在研究和开发新的机器人机构和相关技术，通过使用橡胶等柔性材料来提高对外部环境的适应性。全球软机器人市场预计将从2018年的3.005亿美元增长到2024年的23.2358亿美元。由于最近的工作仍然局限于软机器人的实验和原型设计，先进的增材制造技术可以用于软机器人的最终用途和生产。因此，我们将开发混合3D打印系统，将体积光投影3D打印系统与直接墨水书写3D打印相结合。直接墨水写入3D打印可以在硅基凝胶浴内打印具有电，磁和压电特性的各种功能墨水，用于传感器和致动器。然后，将使用体积3D打印系统用光敏硅凝胶快速打印具有嵌入式传感器和致动器的3D结构。我们还将开发用于体积3D打印和直接墨水写入3D打印系统的各种墨水。凝胶油墨将具有适当的流变特性，以支持内部悬浮的印刷图案。对于直接墨水写入3D打印，将开发和测试各种功能性墨水。第三，我们将优化混合3D打印系统，用于打印3D打印软机器人抓手。软机器人可重构夹具可以是磁致动或磁致动的，并且嵌入式传感器可以感测夹持力。开发的混合3D打印平台和3D打印墨水将满足各种应用中对智能软机器人的需求，包括制造，操纵，抓取，人机交互，运动等。该项目在促进与阿尔伯塔的机器人和可穿戴技术行业的合作方面具有巨大的潜力，并产生许多知识产权，这些知识产权可以成为初创企业的基础或转化为阿尔伯塔的高科技公司，如卡尔加里的Attabotics。

Soft robotics is a robotics study that aims to research and develop new robot mechanisms and related technologies with improved adaptability to external environments by using flexible materials such as rubber. The Global Soft Robotics Market is expected to grow from USD 300.50 million in 2018 to USD 2,323.58 million by 2024. Since the recent work is still limited to experimentation and prototyping of soft robotics, advanced additive manufacturing technologies could be used for the end-use and production of soft robotics. Therefore, we will develop the hybrid 3D printing system by the integration of a volumetric light projection 3D printing system with the direct ink writing 3D printing. Direct ink writing 3D printing can print various functional inks with electrical, magnetic, and piezoelectric properties for sensors and actuators inside the silicon-based gel bath. Then, a 3D structure with embedded sensors and actuators will be rapidly printed with the light-sensitive silicone gel using the volumetric 3D printing system. We will also develop various inks for both the volumetric 3D printing and the direct ink write 3D printing systems. The gel ink will have the proper rheological properties to support suspended printing patterns inside. For the direct ink write 3D printing, various functional inks will be developed and tested. Third, we will optimize the hybrid 3D printing system for printing 3D printed soft robotic grippers. The soft robotic reconfigurable grippers can be magnetically or pneumatically actuated, and the embedded sensors can sense gripping forces. The developed hybrid 3D printing platform and 3D printing inks will address the demand for intelligent soft robots in various applications, including manufacturing, manipulation, gripping, human-machine interaction, locomotion, and more. This project has significant potential for fostering collaboration with robotics and wearable technology industries in Alberta and generating many intellectual properties that can be the foundation for start-ups or translated into Alberta's high-tech companies, such as Attabotics in Calgary.