FURI | Summer 2021

High-Speed 3D Printing of Electroactive Hydrogel for Soft Robotics

A new method of additive manufacturing called Projection Micro Stereolithography (PμSL) has made fabricating micro-scale designs more convenient, and is capable of printing high-resolution electroactive hydrogel parts from photosensitive liquid resin. This hydrogel can exhibit in response to an electric field without external mechanical input while submersed. The hydrogel demonstrates large deformations with relatively fast actuation, alongside biomimetic properties. Researchers have demonstrated that one-dimensional locomotion is possible with printed hydrogel designs. However, this research seeks to create a hydrogel design capable of two-dimensional movement.