Novel Design and Three-Dimensional Printing of Variable Stiffness Robotic Grippers

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Yang ◽  
Yonghua Chen ◽  
Ying Wei ◽  
Yingtian Li
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Shape Memory Polymer ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene ◽  
Variable Stiffness ◽  
Analytical Models ◽  
Printing Process ◽  
Finger Joints ◽  
Rotational Degrees Of Freedom

In this paper, a novel robotic gripper design with variable stiffness is proposed and fabricated using a modified additive manufacturing (hereafter called 3D printing) process. The gripper is composed of two identical robotic fingers and each finger has three rotational degrees-of-freedom as inspired by human fingers. The finger design is composed of two materials: acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) for the bone segments and shape-memory polymer (SMP) for the finger joints. When the SMP joints are exposed to thermal energy and heated to above their glass transition temperature (Tg), the finger joints exhibit very small stiffness, thus allow easy bending by an external force. When there is no bending force, the finger will restore to its original shape thanks to SMP's shape recovering stress. The finger design is actuated by a pneumatics soft actuator. Fabrication of the proposed robotic finger is made possible by a modified 3D printing process. An analytical model is developed to represent the relationship between the soft actuator's air pressure and the finger's deflection angle. Furthermore, analytical modeling of the finger stiffness modulation is presented. Several experiments are conducted to validate the analytical models.

Solid-state foaming of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene through microcellular 3D printing process

2021 ◽  
pp. 0021955X2110094
Author(s):  
Rupesh Dugad ◽  
G Radhakrishna ◽  
Abhishek Gandhi
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene ◽  
Average Cell Size ◽  
Average Cell ◽  
Printing Process ◽  
Specific Strength ◽  
Nozzle Temperature ◽  
Printing Parameters ◽  
Butadiene Styrene

The lightweight products with superior specific strength are in great demand in numerous applications such as automotive, aerospace, biomedical, sports, etc. This work focussed on the manufacturing of lightweight products using the cellular three dimensional (3D) printing process. In this work, the continuous microcellular morphology has been developed in a single foamed filament using 3 D printing of carbon-di-oxide (CO2) saturated acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) filaments. The microcellular structures with average cell size in the range of 6–1040 µm were developed. The influence of printing parameters; nozzle temperature, feed rate, and flow rate on the foam characteristics and cell morphology at different levels were investigated. The different kinds of observed foamed extrudate irregularities were discussed.

scholarly journals On the Simulation of 3D Printing Process by a Novel Meshless Analysis Procedure

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-294
Author(s):  
Ying Mao ◽  
Wen-Hwa Chen ◽  
Ming-Hisao Lee
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Thermal Deformation ◽  
Solid Phase ◽  
Slenderness Ratio ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Analysis Procedure ◽  
Integration Scheme ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Printing Process ◽  
Equivalent Layer

ABSTRACTTo evaluate the thermal deformation induced by 3D Printing (Three Dimensional Printing) process, a novel meshless analysis procedure is established. To account for the heat transfer and solidification effects of each printing layer from liquid to solid phase transition, the layer temperature is measured by the implanted thermocouples. Based on the temperature variation measured, the printing layer temperature can be averaged and considered as uniform for thermal analysis. In addition, as observed by the deformation of the printed target through experiment, only linear thermal elastic analysis is performed.A rigorous algorithm for simulating the 3D Printing process is presented herein. Since the interpolation functions are no longer polynomials, a simple integration scheme using uniform integration points is applied to calculate the global stiffness matrix. Thus, the density and location of the integration points can be easily adjusted to fulfill the required accuracy. Further, for practical implementation, the simulation is also carried out by the concept of equivalent layer.Demonstrative cases of printing a rectangular PLA (Polylactic Acid) brick are tackled to prove the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed meshless analysis procedure. The effects of layer thickness, equivalent layer and slenderness ratio on the thermal deformation of the printed brick are also investigated.

A Heuristic Scaling Strategy for Multi-Robot Cooperative Three-Dimensional Printing

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laxmi Poudel ◽  
Chandler Blair ◽  
Jace McPherson ◽  
Zhenghui Sha ◽  
Wenchao Zhou
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Fused Deposition Modeling ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Geometric Constraints ◽  
Mathematical Representation ◽  
Printing Process ◽  
Fused Deposition ◽  
3D Printers ◽  
Printing Time

Abstract While three-dimensional (3D) printing has been making significant strides over the past decades, it still trails behind mainstream manufacturing due to its lack of scalability in both print size and print speed. Cooperative 3D printing (C3DP) is an emerging technology that holds the promise to mitigate both of these issues by having a swarm of printhead-carrying mobile robots working together to finish a single print job cooperatively. In our previous work, we have developed a chunk-based printing strategy to enable the cooperative 3D printing with two fused deposition modeling (FDM) mobile 3D printers, which allows each of them to print one chunk at a time without interfering with the other and the printed part. In this paper, we present a novel method in discretizing the continuous 3D printing process, where the desired part is discretized into chunks, resulting in multi-stage 3D printing process. In addition, the key contribution of this study is the first working scaling strategy for cooperative 3D printing based on simple heuristics, called scalable parallel arrays of robots for 3DP (SPAR3), which enables many mobile 3D printers to work together to reduce the total printing time for large prints. In order to evaluate the performance of the printing strategy, a framework is developed based on directed dependency tree (DDT), which provides a mathematical and graphical description of dependency relationships and sequence of printing tasks. The graph-based framework can be used to estimate the total print time for a given print strategy. Along with the time evaluation metric, the developed framework provides us with a mathematical representation of geometric constraints that are temporospatially dynamic and need to be satisfied in order to achieve collision-free printing for any C3DP strategy. The DDT-based evaluation framework is then used to evaluate the proposed SPAR3 strategy. The results validate the SPAR3 as a collision-free strategy that can significantly shorten the printing time (about 11 times faster with 16 robots for the demonstrated examples) in comparison with the traditional 3D printing with single printhead.

scholarly journals A Collaborative and Ubiquitous System for Fabricating Dental Parts Using 3D Printing Technologies

Healthcare ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wang ◽  
Chen ◽  
Lin
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Mixed Integer ◽  
Printing Process ◽  
Planning Optimization ◽  
Integer Quadratic Programming ◽  
Ubiquitous System ◽  
Independent Decision ◽  
Mixed Integer Quadratic Programming ◽  
And Control

Three-dimensional (3D) printing has great potential for establishing a ubiquitous service in the medical industry. However, the planning, optimization, and control of a ubiquitous 3D printing network have not been sufficiently discussed. Therefore, this study established a collaborative and ubiquitous system for making dental parts using 3D printing. The collaborative and ubiquitous system split an order for the 3D printing facilities to fulfill the order collaboratively and forms a delivery plan to pick up the 3D objects. To optimize the performance of the two tasks, a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model and a mixed-integer quadratic programming (MIQP) model are proposed, respectively. In addition, slack information is derived and provided to each 3D printing facility so that it can determine the feasibility of resuming the same 3D printing process locally from the beginning without violating the optimality of the original printing and delivery plan. Further, more slack is gained by considering the chain effect between two successive 3D printing facilities. The effectiveness of the collaborative and ubiquitous system was validated using a regional experiment in Taichung City, Taiwan. Compared with two existing methods, the collaborative and ubiquitous 3D printing network reduced the manufacturing lead time by 45% on average. Furthermore, with the slack information, a 3D printing facility could make an independent decision about the feasibility of resuming the same 3D printing process locally from the beginning.

scholarly journals New Materials for 3D-Printing Based on Polycaprolactone with Gum Rosin and Beeswax as Additives

Polymers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Pavon ◽  
Miguel Aldas ◽  
Juan López-Martínez ◽  
Santiago Ferrándiz
Keyword(s):  
Tensile Strength ◽  
3D Printing ◽  
Mechanical Characterization ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
New Materials ◽  
Elongation At Break ◽  
Printing Process ◽  
Gum Rosin ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Natural Additives

In this work, different materials for three-dimensional (3D)-printing were studied, which based on polycaprolactone with two natural additives, gum rosin, and beeswax. During the 3D-printing process, the bed and extrusion temperatures of each formulation were established. After, the obtained materials were characterized by mechanical, thermal, and structural properties. The results showed that the formulation with containing polycaprolactone with a mixture of gum rosin and beeswax as additive behaved better during the 3D-printing process. Moreover, the miscibility and compatibility between the additives and the matrix were concluded through the thermal assessment. The mechanical characterization established that the addition of the mixture of gum rosin and beeswax provides greater tensile strength than those additives separately, facilitating 3D-printing. In contrast, the addition of beeswax increased the ductility of the material, which makes the 3D-printing processing difficult. Despite the fact that both natural additives had a plasticizing effect, the formulations containing gum rosin showed greater elongation at break. Finally, Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy assessment deduced that polycaprolactone interacts with the functional groups of the additives.

scholarly journals A comparison of three-dimensional rotation formalisms for least-squares and Bayesian inverse kinematics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Serrien ◽  
Klevis Aliaj ◽  
Todd Pataky
Keyword(s):  
Least Squares ◽  
Inverse Kinematics ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Estimation Error ◽  
Computational Cost ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Linear Least Squares ◽  
Computationally Efficient ◽  
Rotational Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Value Decomposition

Marker-based inverse kinematics (IK) is prone to errors arising from measurementnoise and soft-tissue artefacts. Various least-squares and Bayesian methods canbe applied to limit the estimation error to a minimum. Recently proposed meth-ods like Bayesian IK come at an increased computational cost however. In thistechnical paper, we present an overview of eight different least squares or BayesianIK methods, including their accuracy and computational load for IK problemsinvolving a single rigid body and three rotational degrees-of-freedom, whose at-titude is estimated from four noisy marker positions. The results indicate thatNon-Linear Least Squares, Variational Bayesian and full Bayesian IK are supe-rior to Singular Value Decomposition in terms of accuracy, with approximatelya two-fold error reduction. However, only Non-Linear Least Squares and Varia-tional Bayesian IK are computationally efficient enough to scale towards practicaluse in biomechanical applications, with computational durations of 1-10 ms; fullyBayesian procedures required approximately 30 s for single rotation calculations.All Python code and supplementary material can be found in this paper’s GitHubrepository: https://github.com/benserrien/pybik.

scholarly journals Recent Cell Printing Systems for Tissue Engineering

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyeongjin Lee ◽  
YoungWon Koo ◽  
Miji Yeo ◽  
SuHon Kim ◽  
Geun Hyung Kim
Keyword(s):  
Tissue Engineering ◽  
Growth Factors ◽  
3D Printing ◽  
Cell Damage ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Human Tissues ◽  
Printing Process ◽  
Cell Printing ◽  
3D Space ◽  
Printing Ink

 Three-dimensional (3D) printing in tissue engineering has been studied for the bio mimicry of the structures of human tissues and organs. Now it is being applied to 3D cell printing, which can position cells and biomaterials, such as growth factors, at desired positions in the 3D space. However, there are some challenges of 3D cell printing, such as cell damage during the printing process and the inability to produce a porous 3D shape owing to the embedding of cells in the hydrogel-based printing ink, which should be biocompatible, biodegradable, and non-toxic, etc. Therefore, researchers have been studying ways to balance or enhance the post-print cell viability and the print-ability of 3D cell printing technologies by accommodating several mechanical, electrical, and chemical based systems. In this mini-review, several common 3D cell printing methods and their modified applications are introduced for overcoming deficiencies of the cell printing process.

scholarly journals Modelling and Investigation of Crack Growth for 3D-Printed Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) with Various Printing Parameters and Ambient Temperatures

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 3737
Author(s):  
Yousef Lafi A. Alshammari ◽  
Feiyang He ◽  
Muhammad A. Khan
Keyword(s):  
3D Printing ◽  
Crack Growth ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene ◽  
Fused Deposition Modelling ◽  
Structural Dynamic ◽  
Fused Deposition ◽  
Nozzle Size ◽  
Printing Parameters ◽  
Butadiene Styrene

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is one of the significant industrial manufacturing methods in the modern era. Many materials are used for 3D printing; however, as the most used material in fused deposition modelling (FDM) technology, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) offers good mechanical properties. It is perfect for making structures for industrial applications in complex environments. Three-dimensional printing parameters, including building orientation, layers thickness, and nozzle size, critically affect the crack growth in FDM structures under complex loads. Therefore, this paper used the dynamic bending vibration test to investigate their influence on fatigue crack growth (FCG) rate under dynamic loads and the Paris power law constant C and m. The paper proposed an analytical solution to determine the stress intensity factor (SIF) at the crack tip based on the measurement of structural dynamic response. The experimental results show that the lower ambient temperature, as well as increased nozzle size and layer thickness, provide a lower FCG rate. The printing orientation, which is the same as loading, also slows the crack growth. The linear regression between these parameters and Paris Law’s coefficient also proves the same conclusion.

A Four-Node Tetrahedral Finite Element Based on Space Fiber Rotation Concept

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-78
Author(s):  
Kamel Meftah ◽  
Lakhdar Sedira
Keyword(s):  
Finite Element ◽  
Strain Field ◽  
Stiffness Matrix ◽  
Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Field Tensor ◽  
Tetrahedral Element ◽  
Numerical Studies ◽  
Rotational Degrees Of Freedom ◽  
Tensor Approximation

Abstract The paper presents a four-node tetrahedral solid finite element SFR4 with rotational degrees of freedom (DOFs) based on the Space Fiber Rotation (SFR) concept for modeling three-dimensional solid structures. This SFR concept is based on the idea that a 3D virtual fiber, after a spatial rotation, introduces an enhancement of the strain field tensor approximation. Full numerical integration is used to evaluate the element stiffness matrix. To demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the developed four-node tetrahedron solid element and to compare its performance with the classical four-node tetrahedral element, extensive numerical studies are presented.

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