Harvard Prints Jumping Robot

Do you suffer from robophobia (an irrational fear of robots)? Here's a nightmare concept for you: The Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory has created a jumping, explosive robot. The robot can jump and land upright thanks to a combination of soft and rigid parts created using a multi-material 3D printer.

The robot's jumps are powered by a butane-oxygen explosion. The robot can aim itself using a pneumatic leg, then fill its body with oxygen and butane, fire an igniter that expands its flexible bottom, and launch itself into the air to a height of 0.75 meters.

The various parts of the robot's body were designed with different levels of stiffness to enable the jumps and provide enough protection so the robot would not shatter upon landing. The researchers were able to print the structure as one piece to reduce points of failure in the robot. According to the team:

The fabrication of soft robots using multimaterial 3D printing has numerous advantages over traditional molding techniques. This strategy promotes high-throughput prototyping by enabling rapid design iteration with no additional cost for increased morphological complexity. By allowing designers greater freedom, 3D printing also facilitates the implementation of good robotic design principles, such as modularity and the separation of power and control actuators. Beyond soft robotics specifically, the ability to print a single structure composed of multiple materials enables investigation into mechanically complex designs, without the drawbacks of complicated assembly or inconsistent manufacturing repeatability.

The researchers used an Objet Connex500 printer from Stratasys to print the body using a combination of nine different materials.

You can read more about it in Science.

Source: Science