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Automaton Robotics Robot Sensors & Actuators Related Stories Printable Robots: MIT Project Wants to Let You Design and Fabricate Your Own Automaton

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By Erico Guizzo Share | Email | Print robotics blog, featuring news, Posted 3 Apr 2012 | 14:00 GMT articles, and videos on robots, humanoids, automation, artificial intelligence, and more.Contact us:

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Editor Senior Writer Erico Guizzo Evan Ackerman New York, N.Y. Berkeley, Calif. Contributor Contributor Jason Falconer Angelica Lim Canada Tokyo, Japan

An insect-like robot designed and printed using new fabrication techniques developed by MIT researchers. Photo: Jason Dorfman, CSAIL/MIT

Who knew that origami could be the future of robotics? Newsletter Sign Up Sign up for the Automaton newsletter Today, if you want to design and build your own robot, you have to order and get biweekly updates about components, write software, and then assemble and test your creation. Of robotics, automation, and AI, all course, the more sophisticated your robot gets, the more time and money you delivered directly to your inbox. have to spend on it. Sign Up Now imagine if you could use a computer program to specify the overall capabilities and appearance of your robot and, with the push of a button, have the robot fabricated by a special printer right in your living room. That's a

futuristic scenario that a new MIT project wants to turn into reality. Robots and Robotics News from IEEE Spectrum

Like Funded by a $10 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the project aims to reinvent how robots are designed and produced by developing 34,998 people like Robots and Robotics New s from IEEE Spectrum open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com technology to allow an average person to create programmable robots in a matter of hours. Watch:

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"This research envisions a whole new way of thinking about the design and manufacturing of robots, and could have a profound impact on society," MIT professor Daniela Rus, leader of the project, said in a statement, adding that the project could help to "democratize access to robots."

The researchers believe that it currently takes too much time and effort to produce and program a robot, and that people are constantly reinventing the wheel. Their goal is to develop software tools and fabrication devices to allow people to rapidly design, customize, and "print" a full robot.

As an analogy, Rus explains that just as a compiler transforms source code into a fully functional application, the researchers want to create a "compiler for building physical machines" that takes a set of specifications and fabricates a programmable robot using simple printing processes and materials.

open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com The researchers are just starting to explore how to accomplish that. They're currently developing an easy-to-use programming environment and testing new materials that would allow for automated fabrication of robot parts. Using

these methods, the team has already built a few prototypes, including an Robotics insect-like robot, a self-contained soft robotic fish, and a small mechanical gripper. Video Friday: DRC Tasks, Quadrotor Failsafes, and Cagdas Onal, an MIT postdoc, explains that they're using a material called Autopsy Robots PEEK, or polyether ether ketone, which he says has "good dimensional Robots that climb, robots that fly, robots stability, laser machining properties, and thermal characteristics." that perform autopsies. It's all here in this week's Video Friday To print the robots, the researchers are using a variety of custom planar 6 Dec fabrication techniques. "The robot bodies are fabricated by laser machining, and their custom flexible circuits are fabricated using regular printers and etching," Onal says. "We use planar molds to create our soft robots from

silicone rubber."

The researchers are already able to place metal wiring on the body of the robots before they are folded. In the future, their goal is to incorporate all electronics -- chips, sensors, power sources -- into the printing process.

Also involved in the project are researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University. Robotics Rob Wood, a professor at Harvard University who's known for his small flying robots, says the project could "dramatically reduce the development time for a Highlights From the variety of useful robots, opening the doors to potential applications in International Robot Exhibition manufacturing, education, personalized healthcare, and even disaster relief." 2013 Check out some of the coolest things we Vijay Kumar, who is leading the team from the University of Pennsylvania, saw at IREX 2013 open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com saw at IREX 2013 added that the project could "allow for the rapid design and manufacture of 25 Nov customized goods, and change the way we teach science and technology in high schools."

It remains to be seen whether robots fabricated with these new methods will scale in size and prove robust enough for real-world applications. However, the same was said years ago about 3D printing and rapid prototyping techniques, which are now ever more popular in both DIY and academic projects.

So perhaps origami is indeed the future of robots. What do you think?

More images: Robotics

open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com Video Friday: Everything That Happened For the Last Two Weeks, and More We get you all caught up after our IROS trip with this massive Video Friday 22 Nov

A robotic gripper printed and designed by Daniela Rus' group at MIT. Photo: Jason Dorfman, CSAIL/MIT open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com

Robotics

IROS 2013: Robot Cars Get Hyper-Maneuverable With Actuated Tails A robot with a tail modeled on a cheetah can make turns at speeds twice as fast 11 Nov

The printed insect-like robot, seen from above. Photo: Jason Dorfman, CSAIL/MIT

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Video Friday: Unstoppable Drones, Rock-Paper-Scissors Robot, and Nao Is a Chatterbox We're off to Japan for ICRA and iREX, but A self-contained, soft robotic fish printed using a new fabrication technique developed at not before delivering you Video Friday 1 Nov MIT. Photo: Jason Dorfman, CSAIL/MIT

Learn More daniela rus fabrication grasp lab harvard mit nsf planar fabrication printable printable robots programmable matter rob wood robot design robot origami robotics hardware upenn vijay kumar

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Robotics Comments Comment Policy Video Friday: Robokind on 5 comments Kickstarter, Atlas Breaks an Ankle, and FirstLook Gets open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com Ankle, and FirstLook Gets Armed Join the discussion… Happy Video Friday! 25 Oct

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Bill Richman • 2 years ago Advertisement What needs to happen is for some enterprising... enterprise... to put high-end 3D printers and/or laser cutters in kiosks in all of their stores, so we can upload our parts files and later go to... for example... Walgreens, or maybe Shopko, and pick up the finished parts. • Reply • Share ›

Erico Bill Richman • 2 years ago Hi Bill, you're totally right. Although in the story I say print right in "your living room," the researchers actually say that, initially, the printers would belong to stores (like the ones you mentioned), and people would upload their designs and pick up the parts there. Let's just hope that that future happens soon. • Reply • Share ›

John • 2 years ago I build Lego Braitenberg style robots for my own research purposes. Does anyone know how soon and when it will be easy to get robots like those above, fabricated. • Reply • Share ›

JackJackSilrak • 2 years ago cost? looks likely to need a quadrillion components, wiring and materials for production of a simplest thing. Hmm, or are you making the printer to produce components from scratch. I think this is a unrealistic dream and that even if it is 10 million will not even scratch the surface of the research needed. • Reply • Share ›

Dutchcon • 2 years ago I would LOVE to be able to print robots, but if you can print little drones/robots at home (and it seems likely in the future), there is of course always the possibility someone hacks your 3D-printer and prints hisRobotics robots in your house. I leave it up to you to think of what nasty things one could do with those... open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com Hm, tun off the 3D-printer when you are not around. Video Friday: Drone Delivery, • Reply • Share › Amphibious Quadrupeds, and Boyfriend Prank RoboBusiness 2013 is next week, and Subscribe Add Disqus to your site we're getting stoked with a huge Video Friday 18 Oct

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Video Friday: Baxter Gets a Turbo Mode, Nao Steps on Things, and Robonaut Doesn't Like You We got some bad news about the new Kinect sensor, but we're trying not to let it get us down 2 Aug

Robotics open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com HyQ Quadruped Robot Learns to Avoid Stumbles, Visits London This Italian four-legged robot won't fall on its face 31 Jul

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Video Friday: KAIRO Can Rescue You, Remote Control Humans, and Roboboat 2013 Snake robots with wheels look like they're especially fun to play with 19 Jul

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