Towards cyclic fabrication systems for modular robotics and rapid manufacturing

Moses, Matthew S.; Yamaguchi, H.; Chirikjian, Gregory S.

doi:10.15607/rss.2009.v.016

Cited by 16 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…The thermal adhesion makes the integration much easier and more flexible [38] than previous technologies, where manufactured structures had to be manually assembled [41,43], or alignment and interlocking mechanisms had to be added to structures during manufacture [44].…”

Section: Tool Manufacturementioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanics and energetics in tool manufacture and use: a synthetic approach

Wang

Brodbeck

Iida

2014

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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Tool manufacture and use are observed not only in humans but also in other animals such as mammals, birds and insects. Manufactured tools are used for biomechanical functions such as effective control of fluids and small solid objects and extension of reaching. These tools are passive and used with gravity and the animal users' own energy. From the perspective of evolutionary biology, manufactured tools are extended phenotypes of the genes of the animal and exhibit phenotypic plasticity. This incurs energetic cost of manufacture as compared to the case with a fixed tool. This paper studies mechanics and energetics aspects of tool manufacture and use in non-human beings. Firstly, it investigates possible mechanical mechanisms of the use of passive manufactured tools. Secondly, it formulates the energetic cost of manufacture and analyses when phenotypic plasticity benefits an animal tool maker and user. We take a synthetic approach and use a controlled physical model, i.e. a robot arm. The robot is capable of additively manufacturing scoop and gripper structures from thermoplastic adhesives to pick and place fluid and solid objects, mimicking primates and birds manufacturing tools for a similar function. We evaluate the effectiveness of tool use in pick-and-place and explain the mechanism for gripper tools picking up solid objects with a solid-mechanics model. We propose a way to formulate the energetic cost of tool manufacture that includes modes of addition and reshaping, and use it to analyse the case of scoop tools. Experiment results show that with a single motor trajectory, the robot was able to effectively pick and place water, rice grains, a pebble and a plastic box with a scoop tool or gripper tools that were manufactured by itself. They also show that by changing the dimension of scoop tools, the energetic cost of tool manufacture and use could be reduced. The work should also be interesting for engineers to design adaptive machines.

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Section: Tool Manufacturementioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanics and energetics in tool manufacture and use: a synthetic approach

Wang

Brodbeck

Iida

2014

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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“…The concept of creating actuated materials is not new. Existing work has focused on creating reconfigurable robotic modules [2,3], foldable or deformable composite structures [4,5], and rigid structure through magnetically joining "pebbles" [6]. An important related inspiration is in the study of variable geometry trusses and adaptive structures, which explore many of the concepts our work implements [7,8].…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of Active-Cells for Macroscopically Deformable Structures

Nawroj

Swensen

Dollar

2014

Volume 2: Mechanics and Behavior of Active Materials; Integrated System Design and Implementation; Bioinspired Smart Materials

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In this paper we describe extensions and improvements upon prior work on “active cells” — small contractile electromechanical elements used in large numbers to create actuated composite structures. Each element (cell) consists of square fiberglass end-pieces encapsulating a bias spring within two telescoping tubes, actuated using two contractile shape memory coils, and occupying approx. 1cm3 when fully contracted. The end-pieces contain conductive interfaces to nearby cells, thus allowing channeling of power through a connected network of cells to provide actuation far from the source of electrical current. Prior work developed the conceptual structure of such a cell as well as preliminary prototypes. This paper describes the attachment of cells to each other and to rapid-prototyped cell interconnects — as well as improved fabrication techniques for the shape-memory coils — resulting in robust actuation for each cell, and the creation of considerably more complex chained and networked composite structures. A detailed exploration of appropriate interconnect mechanisms, powering schemes to provide network-level structural deformations, and examples of multi-cell structures are presented.

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“…To create the desired part, RepRaps sequentially deposit 100-to 400-micron layers of polylactic acid (PLA), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), highdensity polyethylene (HDPE), and a wide range of other feedstock materials (Baechler et al 2013;Kreiger et al 2014;Mireles et al 2013). Open-source 3-D printers have already demonstrated usefulness for developing engineering prototypes (Sells et al 2010), customizing scientific equipment (Pearce 2012;Pearce 2014;Zhang et al 2013), creating electronic sensors (Leigh et al 2012;Anzalone et al 2013), education (Gonzalez-Gomez et al 2012;Zhang et al 2013), co-creative product realization (Redlich et al 2008), personal manufacturing (Devor et al 2012), wire embedding (Bayless et al 2010), modular robotics (Moses et al 2009), tissue engineering (Miller et al 2012), and appropriate technology for sustainable development (Pearce et al 2010). This paper investigates the ability of the RepRap to be used in manufacturing directly following the open-source paradigm and uses a case study of a solar photovoltaic (PV) racking technology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distributed manufacturing with 3-D printing: a case study of recreational vehicle solar photovoltaic mounting systems

et al. 2015

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For the first time, low-cost open-source 3-D printing provides the potential for distributed manufacturing at the household scale of customized, high-value, and complex products. To explore the potential of this type of ultra-distributed manufacturing, which has been shown to reduce environmental impact compared to conventional manufacturing, this paper presents a case study of a 3-D printable parametric design for recreational vehicle (RV) solar photovoltaic (PV) racking systems. The design is a four-corner mounting device with the ability to customize the tilt angle and height of the standoff. This enables performance optimization of the PV system for a given latitude, which is variable as RVs are geographically mobile. The open-source 3-D printable designs are fabricated and analyzed for print time, print electricity consumption, mechanical properties, and economic costs. The preliminary results show distributed manufacturing of the case study product results in an order of magnitude reduction in economic cost for equivalent products. In addition, these cost savings are maintained while improving the functionality of the racking system. The additional electrical output for a case study RV PV system with improved tilt angle functionality in three representative locations in the U.S. was found to be on average over 20% higher than that for conventional mass-manufactured racking systems. The preliminary results make it clear that distributed manufacturing -even at the household level -with open-source 3-D printers is technically viable and economically beneficial. Further research is needed to expand the results of this preliminary study to other types of products.

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Towards cyclic fabrication systems for modular robotics and rapid manufacturing

Cited by 16 publications

References 29 publications

Mechanics and energetics in tool manufacture and use: a synthetic approach

Mechanics and energetics in tool manufacture and use: a synthetic approach

Development of Active-Cells for Macroscopically Deformable Structures

Distributed manufacturing with 3-D printing: a case study of recreational vehicle solar photovoltaic mounting systems

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