Pixelated Sheets of Soft Material Created As Simple as an Inkjet Printing Used for Rapid Production of Soft Robotic Devices

Recently, a new technique that creates pixelated sheets of soft material as easily as pushing a button has been introduced. Every pixel can be programmed uniquely to produce composite colors, shapes, and mechanical abilities.

As specified in a Nanowerk report, borrowing a method from inkjet printers, Princeton Engineering researchers have rolled out a "pixel-by-pixel method to program" and manufacture soft structures for application in robotics.

The latest development works with a class of materials, specifically curable elastic polymers, that cannot be printed using conventional inkjets or 3D printers.

According to assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering Pierre Thomas Brun, the selling point is the methodology's simplicity. He added all one needs is a pair of plaits with a bunch of holes.

A 'Frugal' Technique

The materials start as fluids curing into solids once they get deposited. The key is in the manner the fluids are flowing as they set.

A deep insight into this behavior led the team of Brun to fabricate such composite materials minus the use of complicated machinery. Rather, they allowed nature to do the work.

Brum explained that the new method, which applies age-old fluid dynamics to a modern materials problem, has kept costs low minus cutting corners.

The professor added, "You will get a structure that's very precise." This frugal technique, he continued, is not a compromise in terms of quality.

The findings of the study, published in the Advanced Materials journal, extended additive manufacturing into new material domains that are particularly helpful in biologically-inspired designs.

Inkjet Printer-Inspired

Normally, the pixels in an inkjet printer use four droplet colors to produce millions of prominent hues. The pixels in an inkjet printer use four droplet colors to create millions of apparent hues. The droplets or dots can be made into myriad shapes, from mere letters to elaborate trees, depending on how they are arranged on the paper.

Researchers have wanted to do something comparable with soft composite materials. Brun explained that if one wants the material to interact well with humans, he wants it to be soft.

Nevertheless, the gooey liquids curing into elastic solids have proven quite viscous for inkjet and excessively pliant for 3D printers.

Essentially, the new technique finds a way to work with the intrinsic properties of curable elastic polymers like silicone rubber and could be expanded to work with some liquid materials, as well as molten glass.

For Rapid Production of Soft-Robotic Devices

Physicist Jose Bico, from ESPCI-Paris, who was not part of the study, explained that this simple and universal approach opens numerous paths to developing "soft-robotic devices," at least for rapid prototyping.

A similar Tech Xplore report said that also, according to the physicist, sometimes one thinks he needs to make very multifaceted things. However, he added, what's working in practice "are very simple things."

The National Science Foundation was among the financial backers of this study as part of an initiative to find ecological manufacturing methods, explained Brun.

By taking advantage of the natural properties, this newly developed technology necessitates less energy as it can be carried out at room temperature and requires no specific building to be constructed.

Lastly, the approach could be scaled up as well for architectural constructions such as bridges and arches or scaled down to employ for microscopic structures.

Related information about inkjet printers is shown on Lesics' YouTube video below:

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