3D printing method developed by MIT CSAIL can print in both solid and liquid materials simulataneously, allowing to make a functional robot from one file – just add a motor and battery and it is ready to go:
“Our approach, which we call ‘printable hydraulics,’ is a step
towards the rapid fabrication of functional machines,” says CSAIL
Director Daniela Rus, who oversaw the project and co-wrote the paper.
“All you have to do is stick in a battery and motor, and you have a
robot that can practically walk right out of the printer.”
To demonstrate the concept, researchers 3-D printed a tiny six-legged
robot that can crawl via 12 hydraulic pumps embedded within its body.
They also 3-D printed robotic parts that can be used on existing
platforms, such as a soft rubber hand for the Baxter research robot.
… For all of the progress in 3-D printing, liquids continue to be a big
hurdle. Printing liquids is a messy process, which means that most
approaches require an additional post-printing step such as melting it
away or having a human manually scrape it clean. That step makes it hard
for liquid-based methods to be employed for factory-scale
manufacturing.With “printable hydraulics,” an inkjet printer deposits individual
droplets of material that are each 20 to 30 microns in diameter, or less
than half the width of a human hair. The printer proceeds
layer-by-layer from the bottom up. For each layer, the printer deposits
different materials in different parts, and then uses high-intensity UV
light to solidify all of the materials (minus, of course, the liquids).
The printer uses multiple materials, though at a more basic level each
layer consist of a “photopolymer,” which is a solid, and “a non-curing
material,” which is a liquid.
