For the primary time, researchers have efficiently printed a robotic hand with bones, ligaments and tendons made of various polymers utilizing a brand new laser scanning approach.
3D printed in a single go: A robotic hand manufactured from varyingly inflexible and elastic polymers. Picture credit score: ETH Zurich/Thomas Buchner
3D printing is advancing quickly, and the vary of supplies that can be utilized has expanded significantly. Whereas the know-how was beforehand restricted to fast-curing plastics, it has now been made appropriate for slow-curing plastics as effectively. These have decisive benefits as they’ve enhanced elastic properties and are extra sturdy and strong.
Such polymers are made attainable by a brand new know-how developed by researchers at ETH Zurich and a US start-up. Consequently, researchers can now 3D print complicated, extra sturdy robots from numerous high-quality supplies in a single go. This new know-how additionally makes combining tender, elastic, and inflexible supplies straightforward. The researchers may use it to create delicate constructions and components with cavities as desired.
Supplies that return to their authentic state
Utilizing the brand new know-how, researchers at ETH Zurich have succeeded for the primary time in printing a robotic hand with bones, ligaments and tendons made of various polymers in a single go. “We wouldn’t have been capable of make this hand with the fast-curing polyacrylates we’ve been utilizing in 3D printing to this point,” explains Thomas Buchner, a doctoral pupil within the group of ETH Zurich robotics professor Robert Katzschmann and first creator of the examine. “We’re now utilizing slow-curing thiolene polymers. These have superb elastic properties and return to their authentic state a lot sooner after bending than polyacrylates.” This makes thiolene polymers very best for producing the elastic ligaments of the robotic hand.
As well as, the stiffness of thiolenes might be fine-tuned very effectively to satisfy the necessities of soppy robots. “Robots made of soppy supplies, such because the hand we developed, have benefits over typical robots manufactured from metallic. As a result of they’re tender, there may be much less threat of damage after they work with people, and they’re higher suited to dealing with fragile items,” Katzschmann explains.
Scanning as an alternative of scraping
3D printers usually produce objects layer by layer: nozzles deposit a given materials in viscous type at every level; a UV lamp then cures every layer instantly. Earlier strategies concerned a tool that scraped off floor irregularities after every curing step. This works solely with fast-curing polyacrylates. Sluggish-curing polymers comparable to thiolenes and epoxies would gum up the scraper.
The robotic hand is printed layer by layer utilizing polymers of various elasticity (left: schematic, proper: laptop graphics). Picture credit score: Buchner TJK et al., Nature 2023
To accommodate using slow-curing polymers, the researchers developed 3D printing additional by including a 3D laser scanner that instantly checks every printed layer for any floor irregularities. “A suggestions mechanism compensates for these irregularities when printing the subsequent layer by calculating any crucial changes to the quantity of fabric to be printed in actual time and with pinpoint accuracy,” explains Wojciech Matusik, a professor on the Massachusetts Institute of Expertise (MIT) within the US and co-creator of the examine. Which means as an alternative of smoothing out uneven layers, the brand new know-how merely considers the unevenness when printing the subsequent layer.
Different examples of 3D-printing embody a legged robotic and metamaterials. The latter could possibly be used to soak up vibrations. Picture credit score: ETH Zurich / Thomas Buchner
Inkbit, an MIT spin-off, was accountable for growing the brand new printing know-how. The ETH Zurich researchers developed a number of robotic functions and helped optimise the printing know-how to be used with slow-curing polymers. The researchers from Switzerland and the US have now collectively printed the know-how and their pattern functions in Nature.
At ETH Zurich, Katzschmann’s group will use the know-how to discover additional prospects and to design much more subtle constructions and develop extra functions. Inkbit is planning to make use of the brand new know-how to supply a 3D printing service to its clients and to promote the brand new printers.
Supply: ETH Zurich
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