Printed silicone pneumatic actuators for soft robotics

Sparrman, Bjorn; Pasquier, Cosima du; Thomsen, Charles; Darbari, Shokofeh; Rustom, Rami; Laucks, Jared; Shea, Kristina; Tibbits, Skylar

doi:10.1016/j.addma.2021.101860

Cited by 42 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…[203,244] A low viscosity or a long solidification time is no longer an issue, as the ink is supported by the medium. This was shown by Sparrman et al [245] who printed a two-component silicone with a standard curing time of 6 h inside a self-healing gel. This illustrates that self-healing gels find also applications in the support material for this EDIW printing technique, as gaps and tears in the medium, generated by the needle that moves through the medium, should be healed relatively fast.…”

Section: Embedded Direct Ink Writingmentioning

confidence: 77%

Processing of Self‐Healing Polymers for Soft Robotics

et al. 2021

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Soft robots are, due to their softness, inherently safe and adapt well to unstructured environments. However, they are prone to various damage types. Self‐healing polymers address this vulnerability. Self‐healing soft robots can recover completely from macroscopic damage, extending their lifetime. For developing healable soft robots, various formative and additive manufacturing methods have been exploited to shape self‐healing polymers into complex structures. Additionally, several novel manufacturing techniques, noted as (re)assembly binding techniques that are specific to self‐healing polymers, have been created. Herein, the wide variety of processing techniques of self‐healing polymers for robotics available in the literature is reviewed, and limitations and opportunities discussed thoroughly. Based on defined requirements for soft robots, these techniques are critically compared and validated. A strong focus is drawn to the reversible covalent and (physico)chemical cross‐links present in the self‐healing polymers that do not only endow healability to the resulting soft robotic components, but are also beneficial in many manufacturing techniques. They solve current obstacles in soft robots, including the formation of robust multi‐material parts, recyclability, and stress relaxation. This review bridges two promising research fields, and guides the reader toward selecting a suitable processing method based on a self‐healing polymer and the intended soft robotics application.

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Section: Embedded Direct Ink Writingmentioning

confidence: 77%

Processing of Self‐Healing Polymers for Soft Robotics

et al. 2021

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“…[484] Liquid crystal elastomers have been shown to actuate in the presence of light and were presented in the form of an artificial, mimetic flytrap. [485] Recent publications following our data collection have described progress in the 3D printing of elastomers for streamlined fabrication, [486,487] and further development has occurred in self-healing elastomers that are combined with liquid metals or adhesives. [487,488] Cui et al even crafted garments made from bulk elastomeric material for thermoregulation of an individual to reduce environmental impacts.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Data‐Driven Review of Soft Robotics

Jumet

Bell

Sánchez

et al. 2021

Advanced Intelligent Systems

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The past decade of soft robotics has delivered impactful and promising contributions to society and has seen exponentially increasing interest from scientists and engineers. This interest has resulted in growth of the number of researchers participating in the field and the quantity of their resulting contributions, stressing the community's ability to comprehend and build upon the literature. In this work, a data‐driven review is presented that addresses the recent surge of research by providing a quantitative snapshot of the field. Relevant data are catalogued with three levels of analysis. First, publication‐level analysis explores high‐level trends in the field and bibliometric relationships across the more detailed analyses. Second, device‐level analysis examines the tethering of robots and the incorporation of component types (actuators, sensors, controllers, power sources) into each robot. Finally, component‐level analysis investigates the compliances, material compositions, and “function media” (energetic methods by which components operate) of each soft robotic component in the analyzed literature. The reported data indicate a significant reliance on elastomeric materials, electrical and fluidic media, and physical tethering; meanwhile, controllers and power sources remain underdeveloped relative to actuators and sensors. These gaps in the surveyed literature are elaborated upon, and promising future directions for the field of soft robotics are identified.

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“…The matrix mate-rials could be sandwiched between the printed filaments. Sparrman et al [26] reported that by decreasing the stepover distance in Z-axis, the fusion of printed lines and air-tightness can be improved. Figure 2c,d shows three cylindrical tubes printed by inks with different storage moduli.…”

Section: Properties Of the Matrix And The Inkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the external shapes were limited by the mold structures. Recently, Sparrman et al [26] printed a bellow-based soft linear actuator and a manipulator in the Carbomer gel using silicone. This work proved the practicability of freeform printing of pneumatic actuator.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Freeform Fabrication of Pneumatic Soft Robots via Multi‐Material Jointed Direct Ink Writing

Wang

Boyu

Cui

et al. 2022

Macro Materials & Eng

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Pneumatically actuated soft robots have attracted significant attention in recent years due to their non-linear structures for performing biomimetic motions to enhance human-machine interactions. However, manufacturing soft robots, especially those featuring complex 3D structures, still faces significant challenges as traditional lithography-based micro/nanofabrication technologies have some limitations, such as limited material choices and layer-by-layer architectures. In this work, a facile multi-material jointed direct ink writing (MJDIW) printing method is introduced. In comparing with the traditional micro/nanofabrication and other additive manufacturing methods, the method enables truly freeform 3D printing to fabricate entirely soft actuators and robots with complex 3D structures, while integrating materials with different mechanical characteristics to expand the manufacturing capabilities of additive manufacturing methods. The material properties and printing parameters, and conducted finite element analysis (FEA) is systematically investigated to provide the general design guidelines through simulating actuator motions. Several actuators such as linear elongation and bending actuators are manufactured either by employing a single material or multiple materials with different mechanical properties. Finally, a multi-directional soft manipulator with complex internal channels is printed using different materials to illustrate the versatility of the printing methods.

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Printed silicone pneumatic actuators for soft robotics

Cited by 42 publications

References 38 publications

Processing of Self‐Healing Polymers for Soft Robotics

Processing of Self‐Healing Polymers for Soft Robotics

A Data‐Driven Review of Soft Robotics

Freeform Fabrication of Pneumatic Soft Robots via Multi‐Material Jointed Direct Ink Writing

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