scholarly journals A 3D Printed Modular Soft Gripper Integrated With Metamaterials for Conformal Grasping

2022 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charbel Tawk ◽  
Rahim Mutlu ◽  
Gursel Alici

A single universal robotic gripper with the capacity to fulfill a wide variety of gripping and grasping tasks has always been desirable. A three-dimensional (3D) printed modular soft gripper with highly conformal soft fingers that are composed of positive pressure soft pneumatic actuators along with a mechanical metamaterial was developed. The fingers of the soft gripper along with the mechanical metamaterial, which integrates a soft auxetic structure and compliant ribs, was 3D printed in a single step, without requiring support material and postprocessing, using a low-cost and open-source fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printer that employs a commercially available thermoplastic poly (urethane) (TPU). The soft fingers of the gripper were optimized using finite element modeling (FEM). The FE simulations accurately predicted the behavior and performance of the fingers in terms of deformation and tip force. Also, FEM was used to predict the contact behavior of the mechanical metamaterial to prove that it highly decreases the contact pressure by increasing the contact area between the soft fingers and the grasped objects and thus proving its effectiveness in enhancing the grasping performance of the gripper. The contact pressure can be decreased by up to 8.5 times with the implementation of the mechanical metamaterial. The configuration of the highly conformal gripper can be easily modulated by changing the number of fingers attached to its base to tailor it for specific manipulation tasks. Two-dimensional (2D) and 3D grasping experiments were conducted to assess the grasping performance of the soft modular gripper and to prove that the inclusion of the metamaterial increases its conformability and reduces the out-of-plane deformations of the soft monolithic fingers upon grasping different objects and consequently, resulting in the gripper in three different configurations including two, three and four-finger configurations successfully grasping a wide variety of objects.

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 07-13
Author(s):  
Neha Thakur ◽  
Hari Murthy

Three-dimensional printing (3DP) is a digitally-controlled additive manufacturing technique used for fast prototyping. This paper reviews various 3D printing techniques like Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Fused Deposition Modeling, (FDM), Semi-solid extrusion (SSE), Stereolithography (SLA), Thermal Inkjet (TIJ) Printing, and Binder jetting 3D Printing along with their application in the field of medicine. Normal medicines are based on the principle of “one-size-fits-all”. This is not true always, it is possible medicine used for curing one patient is giving some side effects to another. To overcome this drawback “3D Printed medicines” are developed. In this paper, 3D printed medicines forming different Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) are reviewed. Printed medicines are capable of only curing the diseases, not for the diagnosis. Nanomedicines have “theranostic” ability which combines therapeutic and diagnostic. Nanoparticles are used as the drug delivery system (DDS) to damaged cells’ specific locations. By the use of nanomedicine, the fast recovery of the disease is possible. The plant-based nanoparticles are used with herbal medicines which give low-cost and less toxic medication called nanobiomedicine. 4D and 5D printing technology for the medical field are also enlightened in this paper.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 3879
Author(s):  
Anna C. Tasolamprou ◽  
Despoina Mentzaki ◽  
Zacharias Viskadourakis ◽  
Eleftherios N. Economou ◽  
Maria Kafesaki ◽  
...  

In this work we present a method for fabricating three dimensional, ultralight and flexible millimeter metamaterial units using a commercial household 3D printer. The method is low-cost, fast, eco-friendly and accessible. In particular, we use the Fused Deposition Modeling 3D printing technique and we fabricate flexible conductive Spilt Ring Resonators (SRRs) in a free-standing form. We characterized the samples experimentally through measurements of their spectral transmission, using standard rectangular microwave waveguides. Our findings show that the resonators produce well defined resonant electromagnetic features that depend on the structural details and the infiltrating dielectric materials, indicating that the thin, flexible and light 3D printed structures may be used as electromagnetic microwave components and electromagnetic fabrics for coating a variety of devices and infrastructure units, while adapting to different shapes and sizes.


Polymers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 2492
Author(s):  
Jun Wang ◽  
Bin Yang ◽  
Xiang Lin ◽  
Lei Gao ◽  
Tao Liu ◽  
...  

3D printing technology has been widely used in various fields, such as biomedicine, clothing design, and aerospace, due to its personalized customization, rapid prototyping of complex structures, and low cost. However, the application of 3D printing technology in the field of non-pneumatic tires has not been systematically studied. In this study, we evaluated the application of potential thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU) materials based on FDM technology in the field of non-pneumatic tires. First, the printing process of TPU material based on fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology was studied through tensile testing and SEM observation. The results show that the optimal 3D printing temperature of the selected TPU material is 210 °C. FDM technology was successfully applied to 3D printed non-pneumatic tires based on TPU material. The study showed that the three-dimensional stiffness of 3D printed non-pneumatic tires is basically 50% of that obtained by simulation. To guarantee the prediction of the performance of 3D printed non-pneumatic tires, we suggest that the performance of these materials should be moderately reduced during the structural design for performance simulation.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002199832098856
Author(s):  
Marcela Piassi Bernardo ◽  
Bruna Cristina Rodrigues da Silva ◽  
Luiz Henrique Capparelli Mattoso

Injured bone tissues can be healed with scaffolds, which could be manufactured using the fused deposition modeling (FDM) strategy. Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is one of the most biocompatible polymers suitable for FDM, while hydroxyapatite (HA) could improve the bioactivity of scaffold due to its chemical composition. Therefore, the combination of PLA/HA can create composite filaments adequate for FDM and with high osteoconductive and osteointegration potentials. In this work, we proposed a different approache to improve the potential bioactivity of 3D printed scaffolds for bone tissue engineering by increasing the HA loading (20-30%) in the PLA composite filaments. Two routes were investigated regarding the use of solvents in the filament production. To assess the suitability of the FDM-3D printing process, and the influence of the HA content on the polymer matrix, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were performed. The HA phase content of the composite filaments agreed with the initial composite proportions. The wettability of the 3D printed scaffolds was also increased. It was shown a greener route for obtaining composite filaments that generate scaffolds with properties similar to those obtained by the solvent casting, with high HA content and great potential to be used as a bone graft.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 1559
Author(s):  
Mohammad Reza Khosravani ◽  
Jonas Schüürmann ◽  
Filippo Berto ◽  
Tamara Reinicke

Application of Additive Manufacturing (AM) has significantly increased in the past few years. AM also known as three-dimensional (3D) printing has been currently used in fabrication of prototypes and end-use products. Considering the new applications of additively manufactured components, it is necessary to study structural details of these parts. In the current study, influence of a post-processing on the mechanical properties of 3D-printed parts has been investigated. To this aim, Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) material was used to produce test coupons based on the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) process. More in deep, a device was designed and fabricated to fix imperfection and provide smooth surfaces on the 3D-printed ABS specimens. Later, original and treated specimens were subjected to a series of tensile loads, three-point bending tests, and water absorption tests. The experimental tests indicated fracture load in untreated dog-bone shaped specimen was 2026.1 N which was decreased to 1951.7 N after surface treatment. Moreover, the performed surface treatment was lead and decrease in tensile strength from 29.37 MPa to 26.25 MPa. Comparison of the results confirmed effects of the surface modification on the fracture toughness of the examined semi-circular bending components. Moreover, a 3D laser microscope was used for visual investigation of the specimens. The documented results are beneficial for next designs and optimization of finishing processes.


Micromachines ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 655 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seong-Woo Hong ◽  
Ji-Young Yoon ◽  
Seong-Hwan Kim ◽  
Sun-Kon Lee ◽  
Yong-Rae Kim ◽  
...  

In this study, a soft structure with its stiffness tunable by an external field is proposed. The proposed soft beam structure consists of a skin structure with channels filled with a magnetorheological fluid (MRF). Two specimens of the soft structure are fabricated by three-dimensional printing and fused deposition modeling. In the fabrication, a nozzle is used to obtain channels in the skin of the thermoplastic polyurethane, while another nozzle is used to fill MRF in the channels. The specimens are tested by using a universal tensile machine to evaluate the relationships between the load and deflection under two different conditions, without and with permanent magnets. It is empirically shown that the stiffness of the proposed soft structure can be altered by activating the magnetic field.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomás A. Georgiou ◽  
Davide Asnaghi ◽  
Alva Liang ◽  
Alice M. Agogino

This paper describes the development and testing of a low-cost three-dimensional (3D) printed wearable hand exoskeleton to assist people with limited finger mobility and grip strength. The function of the presented orthosis is to support and enable light intensity activities of daily living and improve the ability to grasp and hold objects. The Sparthan Exoskeleton prototype utilizes a cable-driven design applied to individual digits with motors. The initial prototype is presented in this paper along with a preliminary evaluation of durability and performance efficacy.


ACS Omega ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (19) ◽  
pp. 11147-11150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Volker Woortman ◽  
Martina Haack ◽  
Norbert Mehlmer ◽  
Thomas B. Brück

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-87
Author(s):  
Wenqiong Su ◽  
Yulong Li ◽  
Lulu Zhang ◽  
Jiahui Sun ◽  
Shuopeng Liu ◽  
...  

Typography-like templates for polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic chips using a fused deposition modeling (FDM) three-dimensional (3D) printer are presented. This rapid and fast proposed scheme did not require complicated photolithographic fabrication facilities and could deliver resolutions of ~100 μm. Polylactic acid (PLA) was adopted as the material to generate the 3D-printed units, which were then carefully assembled on a glass substrate using a heat-melt-curd strategy. This craft of bonding offers a cost-effective way to design and modify the templates of microfluidic channels, thus reducing the processing time of microfluidic chips. Finally, a flexible microfluidic chip to be employed for cell-based drug screening was developed based on the modularized 3D-printed templates. The lithography-free, typography-like, 3D-printed templates create a modularized fabrication process and promote the prevalence of integrated microfluidic systems with minimal requirements and improved efficiency.


Author(s):  
Kamaljit Singh Boparai ◽  
Gurpartap Singh ◽  
Rupinder Singh ◽  
Sarabjit Singh

Abstract In this work, 3D printed master patterns of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) thermoplastic material have been used for the preparation of Ni-Cr based functional prototypes as partial dentures (PD). The study started with patient specific three dimensional (3D), CAD data (fetched through scanning). This data was used for preparation of .STL file for printing of master patterns on fused deposition modeling (FDM) setup. The 3D printed master patterns were further wax coated to reduce the surface irregularities (as cost effective post processing technique). The hybrid patterns were subjected to investment casting for the preparation of Ni-Cr based PD. The finally prepared functional prototypes as PD were optimized for dimensional accuracy, surface finish and surface hardness as responses. The results are visualized and supported by photomicrographs and in-vitro analysis.


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