AccScience Publishing / MSAM / Volume 3 / Issue 3 / DOI: 10.36922/msam.4144
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

3D printing soft robots integrated with low-melting-point alloys

Liuchao Jin1,2,3 ,  Xiaoya Zhai4 ,  Kang Zhang1 ,  Jingchao Jiang5* ,  Wei-Hsin Liao1,6*
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1 Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
2 Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Soft Mechanics and Smart Manufacturing, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China
3 Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China
4 School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
5 Department of Engineering, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
6 Institute of Intelligent Design and Manufacturing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
MSAM 2024, 3(3), 4144 https://doi.org/10.36922/msam.4144
Submitted: 4 July 2024 | Accepted: 14 August 2024 | Published: 4 September 2024
© 2024 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Soft robots are developed and applied in aspects such as grasping delicate objects. Their inherent flexibility also enables applications that are unattainable by humans, especially those in life-threatening environments. However, the object grasping performed by most pneumatic soft robotics during transportation requires continuous external power/force, a highly energy-consuming process, particularly for long-distance transportation. In this paper, we propose a low-melting-point alloy (LMPA)-integrated soft robot, manufactured by material extrusion additive manufacturing, requiring no power/force for holding objects during the moving process and thus presenting energy-saving characteristics. The working principles of the LMPA-integrated soft robot are as follows: (1) The LMPA is injected inside the soft robot using material extrusion. (2) The LMPA is heated to above its melting temperature so that the soft robot can change its shape. (3) At this stage, the soft robot is able to grasp an object. (4) While the soft robot is holding or grasping the object, the LMPA is cooled down to room temperature so that it turns into a solid state, and from this point onward, the soft robot can hold the object without relying on extra power for object grasping. (5) Once the soft robot arrives at the destination, the LMPA will be melted again to change the shape of the soft robot for releasing the grip and/or getting ready for another object grasping. In summary, this paper presents a case study of soft grippers, using 3D printing, specifically material extrusion, for fabricating an LMPA-integrated soft robot.

Keywords
Additive manufacturing
3D printing
Soft robot
Soft gripper
Energy consumption
Smart manufacturing
Funding
This work was funded by the Research Grants Council (C4074-22G), Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Project ID: 3110174), Provincial Natural Science Foundation of Anhui (2208085QA01), and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (WK0010000075).
Conflict of interest
Jingchao Jiang serves as the Editorial Board Member of the journal but was not in any way involved in the editorial and peer-review process conducted for this paper, directly or indirectly. Other authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Materials Science in Additive Manufacturing, Electronic ISSN: 2810-9635 Published by AccScience Publishing
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