soft robotics

Complete Soft Robotic Hand Represents Culmination of Inkbit Research

Relying on Inkbit’s vision-controlled jetting (VCJ) technology, researchers from ETH Zurich, along with the Inkbit team, have 3D printed soft and hard structures in single job to create a robotic…

Purdue University Combines Piezoelectric Poling & 3D Printing

Using electric poling one can make a material piezoelectric, meaning that it can convert mechanical energy into electric energy and then reverse this reaction using crystals. Research into this area as…

3D Printing News Briefs, March 15, 2023: Software, Carbon Fiber Bikes, & More

In today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, Velo3D has released the latest version of its Flow software, and Horizon is opening up more micro additive manufacturing applications with a coating that…

3D Printed Robotic Hand Mimics Human Movement

Scientists from the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) have developed a new type of artificial muscle using 3D printing that can better mimic the movements of a human hand and…

3D Printing News Briefs, May 4, 2022: Construction, Research, & More

We’re going to tell you about a 3D printed pavilion and a 3D printed set of stairs first in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs. Moving on, Triastek has received FDA…

Biodegradable Soft Robot Finger Provides Peek at Circular Economy with 3D Printing

Last week, while discussing a new printing filament partially made from wheat bran waste, I mentioned that greater exploration of biodegradable printing materials could be the best long-term solution for…

RAPID + TCT 2021 Day 2: 3D Printing with Inkbit, Farsoon, AON3D, & Raise3D

At the recent RAPID + TCT 2021 in Chicago, I had the opportunity to attend keynote presentations, interview several industry companies, watch an awards ceremony, and walk the show floor….

3D Printed Chain Mail Flexes and Stiffens on Demand

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and California Institute of Technology (Caltech) researchers have created a polyamide chain mail which is flexible but can harden when needed. Made out of…

Soft, Sensitive Robotic Gripping Fingers Made with Multi-material 3D Printing

Soft grippers enable robots to manipulate delicate objects, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re safe to use around living organisms, such as elderly people, so researchers continue working to…

Origami Inspires 3D Printed Soft Robotics

Researchers from China have been inspired by origami structures and materials, leading them to the more complex development of robotics, as presented in the recently published “Origami spring-inspired metamaterials and…

New Silicone 3D Printing Opens up Applications for Robotics, Medicine, Wearables

The fabrication of soft devices is evolving further, with the completion of recent research performed by US scientists. With the results published in “3D printable tough silicone double networks,” the…

Rice University Researchers Develop a New 4D Printing Method to Create Shapeshifting Materials

Researchers at Rice University‘s Brown School of Engineering created a new method to 3D print objects that can be manipulated to take on alternate forms when exposed to changes in…

University of Leeds: 3D Printing Folding Robots Inspired by Origami

Akeel Abtan recently submitted a PhD thesis, ‘Design and Fabrication of Origami Elements for use in a Folding Robot Structure,’ to the University of Leeds (Institute of Design, Robotics and…

3D Bioprinting Soft Actuators: Multiple Materials & Topology Optimization

In the recently published ‘Effects of Topology Optimization in Multimaterial 3D Bioprinting of Soft Actuators,’ international researchers delve further into the fabrication of soft robotics, bordering on the 4D as…

Robotics Manufacturing at the Next Level with 4D Printed Soft Robotics

Authors Ali Zolfagharian, Akif Kaynak, and Abbas Kouzani explore the growing science of soft robotics, outlining their findings in the recently published ‘Closed-loop 4D-printed soft robots.’ Emphasizing how fast this…

Quebec: New Framework for 3D Printing Soft Robotics

‘Geometric Simulation and Additive Manufacturing of Multi-Material Soft Robots’ is a recent master’s thesis by Christopher-Denny Matte, a student at Concordia University (Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science Mechanical,…

3D Printed Cellular Fingers Offer Material Balance Required for Modern Robotics

In ‘Toward a Smart Compliant Robotic Gripper Equipped with 3D-Designed Cellular Fingers,’ authors Manpreet Kaur and Woo Soo Kim delve into the world of combining 3D printing and robotics. Their…

TU Delft Researchers Create Soft Robotics that Respond to Color-Based Sensors

As 3D printing and robotics continue to collide and complement each other, new machines are being created. In soft robotics, we’re seeing the emergence of a class of machines that…

TU Delft: 3D Printing Soft Mechanical Materials for Ultra-Programmable Robotics

TU Delft scientists continue to delve into 3D printing research, recently developing advanced robotics in the form of highly programmable—and soft—actuators. Fabricated with both hard and soft materials, the actuators…

Purdue Researchers Create Soft Robotics Users Can Customize & Make Using 3D Printing

Researchers have patented promising new robotics technology created through the Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization, and outlined in ‘3D Architected Soft Machines with Topologically Encoded Motion.’ Authors Debkalpa Goswami, Shuai…

3D Printed Robotic Mesh Structures Controlled by Magnetic Fields

Researchers at North Carolina State University have created a new kind of robot – one that floats on water and can be controlled with applied magnetic fields. These 3D printed flexible…

Researchers Use Shape Memory Polymers to Increase Stiffness of 3D Printed Soft Actuators

While soft robots are very flexible, and adaptive to more complex environments, they aren’t great at completing tasks with a high load capacity due to the low stiffness of constituent…

Soft Robotic Sheets Can Make Inanimate Objects Move

Among 3D printing’s many applications, the technology often crosses over into the field of robotics, including soft robotics. Soft robotics is a field that has been changing the way people…

Aether and UCLA Partner to Develop 3D Printed Artificial Muscles

Robots have come a long way, moving past their traditional image of stiff metal machines and becoming something much more varied and sophisticated. Soft robotics is an expanding field, leading…