Additive manufacturing Control soft robots with 3D-printed pneumatic logic modules

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In the future, soft robots can take on tasks where traditional robots fail. For this, it's necessary for these soft robots to be controllable without any electronics. A research team at the University of Freiburg has now developed 3D-printed pneumatic logic modules that control the movements of soft robots solely through air pressure.

Soft robots could be used in the future in hard-to-reach terrain and environments where they could be exposed to chemicals or radiation that would damage electronically controlled metal robots. For this purpose, these soft robots would need to be controllable without any electronics. A research team from the University of Freiburg has taken on this challenge and developed 3D-printed pneumatic logic modules. The modules control the movements of soft robots solely through air pressure. Thus, they enable a logical circuit of air flow and can mimic electrical control. "Our design allows anyone with experience in 3D printing to produce such logic modules and use them to control a soft robot, without the need for high-end printing equipment," says Dr. Stefan Conrad from the Cluster of Excellence "Living, Adaptive and Energy-autonomous Materials Systems (livMatS)."

For the first time, the modules make it possible to produce flexible and electronics-free soft robots entirely with a 3D printer using filament from conventional printing material. "This marks a significant step towards completely electronics-free pneumatic control circuits, which can replace increasingly complex electrical components in soft robots in the future," Conrad adds. The team around Dr. Stefan Conrad, Dr. Falk Tauber, Joscha Teichmann, and Prof. Dr. Thomas Speck from the Cluster of Excellence "Living, Adaptive and Energy-autonomous Materials Systems (livMatS)" has published their results in the scientific journal Science Robotics.

Modules can specifically direct airflow into motion elements

The modules consist of two chambers under pressure. Between these chambers runs a 3D-printed channel. By pressing the chambers onto the channel, they can stop the airflow within it and thus regulate it like a valve. By selectively opening and closing the valve, the modules can perform the Boolean logical functions "AND," "OR," and "NOT," similar to electrical circuits, and direct airflow into the movement elements of the soft robot.

The function that each module performs is determined by into which chambers air pressure is applied. Depending on the chosen material, the modules can be operated with a pressure between 80 and more than 750 kilopascals. They have a fast reaction time of about 100 milliseconds, compared to other pneumatic systems.

3D-printed robotic runner withstands the load of a car

"The application possibilities of these modules are enormous. We have developed a flexible 3D-printed robotic runner that is controlled via an integrated circuit by air pressure. The resilience of the logic modules is demonstrated by the fact that this runner can even withstand the load of a car driving over it," says Dr. Falk Tauber from the Cluster of Excellence "Living, Adaptive and Energy-autonomous Materials Systems (livMatS)." "As an example of more complex controls, we have also developed an electronics-free beverage dispenser."