1 Rob Scharff – Constructeursdag – 10/11/15

3D-Printing Soft Robots

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Printable Pneumatic Technology

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Research focus - Potential of the technology for Human-Robot

Interaction

- Potential of the technology for

designers/engineers

Printable Pneumatic Technology

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Rigid hand Soft hand

Actuators 5 8

Sensors 0 2-10

Joints 16 Infinite

Degrees of Freedom 16 Infinite

Material Metals and plastics (rigid) Plastic (flexible)

Weight Unknown 400g

Material costs 100 euro 550 euro

Assembly costs High (>550 euro) Very low (<10 euro)

Adaptive grip Yes Yes

Amount of parts >100 <10

Force distribution Independent Independent /Distributed

Flexor Cords Compressed air

Extensor Cords Compliant mechanism

Printing method FDM SLS

3D-printed Robotic Hands/ Prosthetics

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Impact of 3D-Printing on Design

- Customizability

- No batch size needed

- Availability

- Design freedom

- Aesthetic

- Functional

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Design Freedom for Optimization

- Optimize Strength to weight ratio

- Save material

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Design Freedom for Optimization

- Optimize bellow for desired force and movement

- 2.5 times less volume, more movement

Freyer et al. (2015)

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Design Freedom for Optimization

- Optimize for assembly

- 10 actuators/sensors integrated in one part

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- Challenges of flexible materials - Simulation is difficult

- large deformations

- Self-intersecting parts

- Non linear material behavior

- Hard to control

Design freedom with soft materials

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- Torsional trunk muscles for rotation

- Antagonistic setup in double bellow

Design freedom & soft materials: Biomimicry

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Design freedom & soft materials: Biomimicry

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Design freedom & soft materials: Biomimicry

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- Removal of support material

- Strength

- Consistency

- Software tools

Design limitations of 3D-Printing

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Volunteers to shake hands?