Negshell casting: 3D-printed structured and sacrificial cores for soft robot fabrication.

ABSTRACT: Soft robot fabrication by casting liquid elastomer often requires multiple steps of casting or skillful manual labor. We present a novel soft robotic fabrication technique: negshell casting (negative-space eggshell casting), that reduces the steps required for fabrication by introducing 3D-printed thin-walled cores for use in casting that are meant to be left in place instead of being removed later in the fabrication process. Negshell casting consists of two types of cores: sacrificial cores (negshell cores) and structural cores. Negshell cores are designed to be broken into small pieces that have little effect on the mechanical structure of the soft robot, and can be used for creating fluidic channels and bellows for actuation. Structural cores, on the other hand, are not meant to be brok

SUBMITTER: Preechayasomboon P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7292399 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature