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Application-Oriented Comparison of Two 3D Printing Processes for the Manufacture of Pneumatic Bending Actuators for Bioinspired Macroscopic Soft Gripper Systems

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Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems (Living Machines 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 13548))

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Abstract

Soft robotic systems are ideally suited for adaptive bioinspired grippers due to their intrinsic properties. The advent of flexible 3D printing materials has made soft robotic actuator designs that were previously difficult or impossible to produce now implementable. In this study, we present an application-oriented comparison of the suitability for the printing of pneumatic actuators of two state-of-the-art 3D printing processes for flexible material, fused deposition modeling (FDM) and material jetting (PolyJet). While the FDM method affects the actuator designs, e.g., by the lack of practicable support material for flexible materials and its nozzle size, PolyJet uses support material but requires a design that allows the removal of it afterward. To compare how the two 3D printer technologies are suited for fabricating bending actuators, we have developed a pneumatic mono-material bending actuator that meets the design requirements to be printed with both printers. The design process itself and the characterization by bending angle and torque provided information about which design concepts could be better implemented with which method. The PolyJet process seems more suited for pneumatic actuators with large chambers and complex overhangs that show a sensitive response in the bending angle, but have low robustness. In contrast, the FDM method appears more suited for actuators with small chambers and complex geometries that feature high robustness and higher absolute tip force. These results form the basis for translating new inspirations from the elastic movements of living nature into our actuators by fully exploiting the advantages of each additive manufacturing process.

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Funding

Funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy – EXC-2193/1-390951807.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Biomechanics Group (PBG) Freiburg, Botanic Garden of the University of Freiburg, University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

    Peter Kappel, Corinna Kramp, Thomas Speck & Falk J. Tauber

  2. Cluster of Excellence livMatS @ FIT – Freiburg Center for Interactive Materials and Bioinspired Technologies, University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

    Peter Kappel, Corinna Kramp, Thomas Speck & Falk J. Tauber

  3. Freiburg Center for Interactive Materials and Bioinspired Technologies (FIT), University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

    Thomas Speck

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  1. Peter Kappel
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  2. Corinna Kramp
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  4. Falk J. Tauber
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Falk J. Tauber .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA

    Alexander Hunt

  2. Technology Innovation Institute, Masdar City, United Arab Emirates

    Vasiliki Vouloutsi

  3. Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Kenneth Moses

  4. Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Roger Quinn

  5. Institute for Bioengineering of Cataloni, Barcelona, Spain

    Anna Mura

  6. University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Tony Prescott

  7. Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Paul F. M. J. Verschure

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Kappel, P., Kramp, C., Speck, T., Tauber, F.J. (2022). Application-Oriented Comparison of Two 3D Printing Processes for the Manufacture of Pneumatic Bending Actuators for Bioinspired Macroscopic Soft Gripper Systems. In: Hunt, A., et al. Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems. Living Machines 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 13548. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20470-8_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20470-8_6

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