MIT researchers have developed a new programmable viscoelastic material technique that allows them to design 3D printed parts with their own level of stiffness and elasticity. (via MIT)
If you think about it, robots undergo a tremendous amount of abuse in terms of shock and vibration. Drones, manufacturing and military robots are just a few that routinely undergo punishment in one form or another and would greatly benefit from having a protective coating that would help reduce or eliminate internal damage.
Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have developed a coating that will help protect them against such damage as well as providing a level of durability. Beyond robots, the material could also be used on a host of other items as well- mobile devices, safety equipment and even shoe-wear (among many others). The material in question is known as programmable viscoelastic material (PVM) and it can be 3D printed in varying levels of stiffness and elasticity for any number of objects or robotic parts.
The CSAIL researchers developed their PVM by using three different materials- a solid, liquid and a flexible rubbery substance known as TangoBlack+ and combining them while 3D printing an object- in this case autonomous cube robots. Those robots move by using a tensioned metal appendage, which allows the robots to jump from one location to the next. The team tested their shock-absorbing ‘skins’ on the robots and found that it transferred only 1/250 the amount of energy to the ground while landing over those that were not outfitted with the PVM.
We have all seen video of drones hard-hitting the ground and rotors breaking off. While it may be amusing to see, they are expensive to replace. Using MIT’s PVM material could help prevent that catastrophic damage and allow beginner pilots to fly with less worry. Another benefit of the material allows robots to land with more precision- four-times more to be exact. This of course, is dependent on the level of elasticity on the robot’s side surfaces.
The team used a ‘standard’ 3D printer to manufacture the robots, while the PVM process is based on using an inkjet to deposit droplets of the different materials mentioned above layer by layer and subjecting them to UV light to solidify the non-liquid materials. Adding or subtracting (essentially programming) the amounts of those materials will result in the desired solidity or elasticity, making it easy to create robots that have a solid body while also having shock-resistant limbs for example.
Imagine having robots working side by side with humans but without the risk of injury or having rescue robots that can traverse disaster zones without damaging sensitive electronics. Beyond that, I would love to see rugged mobile devices that can handle being dropped without breaking or my apartment floors and walls printed with the stuff so I didn’t have to hear my neighbors every footstep.
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