Vision-controlled jetting for composite systems and robots

Recreating complex structures and functions of natural organisms in a synthetic form is a long-standing goal for humanity 1 . The aim is to create actuated systems with high spatial resolutions and complex material arrangements that range from elastic to rigid. Traditional manufacturing processes st...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Nature (London) Vol. 623; no. 7987; pp. 522 - 530
Main Authors:	Buchner, Thomas J. K., Rogler, Simon, Weirich, Stefan, Armati, Yannick, Cangan, Barnabas Gavin, Ramos, Javier, Twiddy, Scott T., Marini, Davide M., Weber, Aaron, Chen, Desai, Ellson, Greg, Jacob, Joshua, Zengerle, Walter, Katalichenko, Dmitriy, Keny, Chetan, Matusik, Wojciech, Katzschmann, Robert K.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	London Nature Publishing Group UK 16-11-2023 Nature Publishing Group
Subjects:	639/166/987 639/166/988 639/301/1023/1025 639/301/923/1028 Actuation Biomimetic Materials - chemical synthesis Biomimetic Materials - chemistry Complex systems Composite materials Control theory Curing Design Elastic Modulus Elastic properties Feedback Feedback loops High resolution Humanities and Social Sciences Humans Ink jet printers Manufacturing Manufacturing industry Material properties Metamaterials Modulus of elasticity multidisciplinary Nozzles Polymers Printing, Three-Dimensional Resins Robot arms Robotics - instrumentation Robotics - methods Robots Science Science (multidisciplinary) Three dimensional printing Viscoelasticity Vision systems
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Summary:	Recreating complex structures and functions of natural organisms in a synthetic form is a long-standing goal for humanity 1 . The aim is to create actuated systems with high spatial resolutions and complex material arrangements that range from elastic to rigid. Traditional manufacturing processes struggle to fabricate such complex systems 2 . It remains an open challenge to fabricate functional systems automatically and quickly with a wide range of elastic properties, resolutions, and integrated actuation and sensing channels 2 , 3 . We propose an inkjet deposition process called vision-controlled jetting that can create complex systems and robots. Hereby, a scanning system captures the three-dimensional print geometry and enables a digital feedback loop, which eliminates the need for mechanical planarizers. This contactless process allows us to use continuously curing chemistries and, therefore, print a broader range of material families and elastic moduli. The advances in material properties are characterized by standardized tests comparing our printed materials to the state-of-the-art. We directly fabricated a wide range of complex high-resolution composite systems and robots: tendon-driven hands, pneumatically actuated walking manipulators, pumps that mimic a heart and metamaterial structures. Our approach provides an automated, scalable, high-throughput process to manufacture high-resolution, functional multimaterial systems. We have developed an automated and high-throughput, three-dimensional, vision-controlled inkjet deposition process that enables the high-resolution, contactless printing of a range of materials with varying elastic moduli to create complex structures and robots.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0028-0836 1476-4687
DOI:	10.1038/s41586-023-06684-3