Researchers successfully 3D printed polymer based robotic arms through laser scanning

Researchers from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and an American startup used slow curing plastic to develop durable and sturdy robots using high-quality materials.

The team can now print these complex robots at once and combine soft, elastic, and rigid materials together. This allows for the creation of precision structures and parts with cavities as needed.

Inkbit, a derivative company of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has developed a new printing technology. Researchers at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich have developed several robot applications and helped optimize the technology used for slow curing polymers. The researchers jointly published their research findings in the journal Nature.

Using this new technology, researchers have successfully printed a robotic hand made of bones, ligaments, and tendons made of different polymers in one go for the first time.

So far, we are unable to manufacture this hand using the fast curing polyacrylate we use in 3D printing, "said Thomas Buchner, a doctoral student in the robotics professor Robert Katzschmann group at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, who was the first author of the study. We are currently using slowly curing thiophene polymers. They have excellent elasticity and recover to their original state faster than polyacrylates after bending.

Researchers say their method makes thiophene polymers an ideal choice for producing elastic ligaments in robotic arms. They can also fine tune the stiffness of thiol groups to meet the requirements of soft robots.

Robots made of soft materials, such as the hands we have developed, have advantages over traditional metal robots. Because they are very soft, there is a lower risk of injury when working with humans, and they are more suitable for handling fragile goods, "Katzschmann said.

In order to adapt to slowly curing polymers, researchers further developed 3D printing by adding a 3D laser scanner. The scanner will immediately check each printing layer for any surface irregularities. This technology is not a smooth and uneven layer, but rather considers unevenness when printing the next layer.

The feedback mechanism compensates for these irregularities in the next layer in real-time and accurately by calculating any necessary adjustments to the amount of material to be printed, "said Professor Wojciech Matusik of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Source: Laser Network