Direct 3D printing of silicone elastomer soft robots and their performance comparison with molded counterparts

Yirmibeşoğlu, Osman Doğan; Morrow, John; Walker, Stephanie; Gosrich, Walker; Canizares, Reece; Kim, Han Sung; Daalkhaijav, Uranbileg; Fleming, Chloë; Branyan, Callie; Mengüç, Yiğit

doi:10.1109/robosoft.2018.8404935

Cited by 84 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Even though we used the same materials for the different fabrication techniques of the 4 channel tentacles and Pneu-net actuators, there was only one difference that we neglected in our 2 https://www.smooth-on.com/product-line/dragon-skin/ (accessed: April 2019) previous work (Yirmibesoglu et al, 2018). Since DS10-very-fast material's pot-life was 4 min, it was not possible to mold the actuator designs.…”

Section: Effects Of Fabrication Methods Nozzle Size and Print Direcmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluation of 3D Printed Soft Robots in Radiation Environments and Comparison With Molded Counterparts

et al. 2019

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Robots have an important role during inspection, clean-up, and sample collection in unstructured radiation environments inaccessible to humans. The advantages of soft robots, such as body morphing, high compliance, and energy absorption during impact, make them suitable for operating under extreme conditions. Despite their promise, the usefulness of soft robots under a radiation environment has yet to be assessed. In this work, we evaluate the effectiveness of soft robots fabricated from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a common fabrication material, under radiation for the first time. We investigated gamma-induced mechanical damage in the PDMS materials' mechanical properties, including elongation, tensile strength, and stiffness. We selected three radiation environments from the nuclear industry to represent a wide range of radiation and then submerged a 3D printed hexapus robot into a radiation environment to estimate its operation time. Finally, to test the reliability of the 3D printed soft robots, we compared their performances with molded counterparts. To analyze performance results in detail, we also investigated dimensional errors and the effects of fabrication methods, nozzle size, and print direction on the stiffness of PDMS material. Results of this study show that with increasing exposure to gamma irradiation, the mechanical properties of PDMS decrease in functionality but are minimally impacted up to 20 kGy gamma radiation. Considering the fractional changes to the PDMS mechanical properties, it is safe to assume that soft robots could operate for 12 h in two of the three proposed radiation environments. We also verified that the 3D printed soft robots can perform better than or equal to their molded counterparts while being more reliable.

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Section: Effects Of Fabrication Methods Nozzle Size and Print Direcmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The dimensional error results in the crosssectional areas, which directly affect the performance, were similar for both the molded and 3D printed robots. Moreover, the FIGURE 11 | Dimensional quality comparison (Yirmibesoglu et al, 2018).…”

Section: Robot Performance Comparison: 3d Printed Vs Moldedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of 3D Printed Soft Robots in Radiation Environments and Comparison With Molded Counterparts

et al. 2019

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“…Casting processes generate additional waste materials with the required casting molds. 3D printing processes produce the object without additional support objects, and in the case that silicone is used as material, 3D-printed actuators are in no way inferior to cast actuators [31].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The other methods create components by dispensing material through nozzles. These include fused deposition modeling [30], direct ink writing [31,32], and direct ink-jet printing [33]. There is no waste at all because the material is converted directly into the component.…”

Section: Additive Production Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recycling-Oriented Design in Soft Robotics

Nguyen

Seibel

2019

Actuators

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Soft robotics is a novel approach in the field of robotics. Soft robots or soft actuators are typically polymer-based and are characterized by their flexibility and adaptability, which brings new far-reaching applications. Soft robotics is currently at the peak of its research. One circumstance that is also present in this age is constant climate change; there is a demand for sustainability. This goes hand in hand with the design of products that are suitable for recycling. Today, more is expected of an engineer than just function-oriented design. This article looks at soft robotics from the point of view of sustainability. Since nature operates in cycles, the aim is to design products in such a way that they can be introduced into cycles. Three recycling cycles for products can be distinguished, which take place during production, during product use, and after product life. Within the framework of this work, special design measures are reviewed for fluidic elastomer actuators-a characteristic type of soft actuators-so that they can be integrated into the recycling process.

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“…Charbel Tawk, Yuan Gao, Rahim Mutlu and Gursel Alici printing [29][30][31], multi-material 3D printing [32][33] and silicone 3D printing [34].…”

Section: Fully 3d Printed Monolithic Soft Gripper With High Conformalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fully 3D Printed Monolithic Soft Gripper with High Conformal Grasping Capability

Tawk

Gao

Mutlu

et al. 2019

2019 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM)

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The recent advances in material science and engineering disciplines have had a significant impact on the robotics field where numerous bioinspired soft robots have been developed. Roboticists can now develop and fabricate soft robotic systems made of materials with low elasticity using additive manufacturing technologies. One of the most studied classes of soft robotic systems is soft adaptive grippers. In this work, we present a novel fully 3D printed soft pneumatic gripper that incorporates a novel design of soft pneumatic chambers and a bioinspired fin-ray structure for conformal grasping. The soft gripper was printed in a single step using a low-cost and open-source fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printer and a commercially available thermoplastic poly(urethane) (TPU). A soft pneumatic actuator representing each finger of the gripper was optimized using finite element modeling (FEM). The FEM simulations predicted accurately the performance of the actuator in terms of deformation and blocked force. The high conformability of the proposed soft gripper was validated experimentally. The soft gripper was demonstrated lifting a heavy load and grasping a wide variety of objects with different weights, shapes, textures and stiffnesses.

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Direct 3D printing of silicone elastomer soft robots and their performance comparison with molded counterparts

Cited by 84 publications

References 24 publications

Evaluation of 3D Printed Soft Robots in Radiation Environments and Comparison With Molded Counterparts

Evaluation of 3D Printed Soft Robots in Radiation Environments and Comparison With Molded Counterparts

Recycling-Oriented Design in Soft Robotics

Fully 3D Printed Monolithic Soft Gripper with High Conformal Grasping Capability

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