Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a new method that doesn’t require any special equipment and works in just minutes to create soft, flexible, 3D-printed robots. (See video below.)
The innovation comes from rethinking the way soft robots are built: instead of figuring out how to add soft materials to a rigid robot body, the UC San Diego researchers started with a soft body and added rigid features to key components.
The structures were inspired by insect exoskeletons, which have both soft and rigid parts – the researchers called their creations “flexoskeletons”. [Read more…] about Scientists develop ‘flexoskeletons’ that cost a dollar to 3D print
