Scientists and engineers from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have created a first-of-its-kind extrusion method that permits the growth of synthetic materials. The new method will enable researchers to create better soft robots that can traverse challenging terrain, hard-to-reach areas, and possibly areas inside the human body.
Soft-growing Robots Function
In the emerging field of soft robotics, flexible and soft materials are used to create robots rather than rigid ones.
According to Bristol Robotics Laboratory, soft robotics, as opposed to traditional robotics, uses new compliant active materials and structures that synchronize with the human body. Soft robotics uses intelligent materials that bend, twist, or contract when electrically stimulated rather than motors, metals, or plastics.
Soft-growing robots have the ability to generate new material and grow while moving. These machines might be used for tasks that humans cannot perform in remote locations, like installing or inspecting tubes below ground or navigating inside the human body for biomedical uses.
Chris Ellison, the paper's lead authors, said that in terms of robotics, robots are being used more and more in hazardous, remote environments, and these are the kinds of areas where this work could have an impact. Developing new manufacturing techniques is crucial for the country's competitiveness and for bringing new products to consumers.
Soft Robots Challenges and Scientists' Proposed Solution for Improvement
Similar to how a 3D printer is fed with solid filament to produce its shaped product, current soft-growing robots drag a trail of solid material behind them and can use heat and/or pressure to transform that material into a more durable structure.
However, according to TechXplore, it becomes more challenging to pull the solid material trail around bends and turns, making it challenging for the robots to move through terrain with obstacles or winding paths.
The study, released in theProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed how the team used a new means of extrusion to solve this problem.
Extrusion is a technique that involves forcing material through a hole to shape it into a desired shape. The robot can produce its synthetic material from a liquid rather than a solid using this novel method.
Matthew Hausladen, the paper's first author, said that they were inspired by how plants and fungi grow. So, they translated it into an engineering system, taking the idea that plants and fungi add material at the end of their bodies, either at their root tips or at their new shoots.
ALSO READ: 3D-printed Four-legged Soft Robot Can Walk On Rough Terrain Such As Sand Or Pebbles
Photopolymerization Process
Scientists use water as a reference in their study to come up with a new process that will improve the soft robots' weaknesses.
Water is used by plants to transport the building blocks that eventually solidify into roots as they spread outward. Using a process called photopolymerization, which turns liquid monomers into solid materials using light, the researchers were able to replicate this process with synthetic material.
With the aid of this innovation, the soft robot will be able to move through tight spaces and around curves without having to drag anything heavy behind it.
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