Two new studies have been released demonstrating how 3D-printed robots could fold into shape and assemble themselves after being exposed to heat.
Printable robots have long been a topic of research at the lab of Daniela Rus, the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT.
Rus' group, and its collaborators, used heated sheets of a type of polymer known as polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, to make a two-dimensional sheet of material assemble itself into a 3D machine.
The sheets of material were placed between two rigid polyester films that are full of slits.
"The PVC shrinks when heated and the slits eventually shut, pushing against each other and altering the shape of the PVC," according to Live Science. "This process bends the material into different shapes, based on the pattern of slits and how the heat interacts with the PVC."
One of the newer studies observes how to create the 2D pattern of slits, which makes foldable robotos possible.
Shuhei Miyashita, a researcher at MIT, created an aluminum-coated polyester sensor that can be attached to robots once completely assembled.
"You're doing this really complicated global control that moves every edge in the system at the same time," said Rus, a professor of engineering and computer science at MIT in a statement, according to Live Science. "You want to design those edges in such a way that the result of composing all these motions, which actually interfere with each other, leads to the correct geometric structure."
The sensor looks like a small accordion, with folds of material that compress and help electrical currents pass through the system, according to Live Science.
The new studies continue previous work done by Rus and another MIT professor,
Research was presented this week at the 2014 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Hong Kong.
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