3D-printed sensor technology developed by �� researchers has applications in prosthetics, robotics, more

Maegan Murray — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 19:28:42 +0000

By Maegan Murray, �� Tri-Cities

RICHLAND, Wash. – Engineering researchers at Washington State University Tri-Cities, in partnership with those at the in Germany, have developed a way to 3D print flexible sensors using nanomaterials and a type of plastic in tandem, which has shown to advance capabilities for what is possible with flexible sensors.

�� Tri-Cities engineering professor Amir Ameli and alumnus Josef Christ test 3D-printed sensors made from nanomaterials in a laboratory at �� Tri-Cities.

Flexible sensors have applications in soft robotics, prosthetics, physical therapy and structural health monitoring, which requires a degree of movement, compression or flex to fulfill the function of a device and/or the use. The sensors may be used to measure the degree of stretching or compression in the movement of an object, the amount of times something is used, flexed or compressed, or to track how something moves.

Until now, manufacturers have found it challenging to create a sensor that would integrate seamlessly with material within a larger system. Using their 3D printing method to create the sensors, however, several materials are printed in tandem. This would allow manufacturers to better create complex and conductive pattern designs, in addition to specifically tailor the general manipulation needed with each type of sensor. This method uses extrusion to make feedstock material and thus following a 3D printing method would also allow the sensors to be mass-produced on a commercial scale.

The team of �� and Leibniz Institute researchers, made up of Josef Christ, Nahal Aliheidari, Petra Pötschke and Amir Ameli, recently published their findings in Polymers, an MDPI research journal.

Varied potential and recyclable

Ameli, �� Tri-Cities assistant professor of mechanical engineering, said they started with nanomaterials called carbon nanotubes and a flexible polymer called

3D-printed sensors made from nanomaterials have application in soft robotics, physical therapy, health monitoring and more.

thermoplastic polyurethane, which can be combined in different amounts and in different ways depending on the type of use.

“We can design sensors with different sensitivity and different range of flexibility,” he said. “We can go as high as 100 percent deformation, which has wide use for applications including soft robotics. It is conformable, it is soft, it is flexible, and at the same time, it has a good sensitivity to sense the change in dimensions.”

Ameli said using 3D printing, they have designed bi-directional sensors, which allow the sense of deformation in two different directions.

“By monitoring the change in the electrical resistance, we can probe how much deformation is applied to the sensors, which is called piezoresistivity,” he said. “We can print these with conductive traces of nanomaterial with different patterns and in different directions. That gives us the ability to design sensors with tuned sensitivity and in any direction we are interested in.”

Ameli said the material is also recyclable.

“We can melt it and then re-melt it, and through the melting process, we can recycle the material,” he said.

Applications in robotics, physical therapy

So far, they have done initial tests with the sensors in a glove prototype, with a robot that is being developed at �� to pick apples, as well as with a few other applications. They also have plans for printing nanomaterials that can be used in supercapacitors, or those that can hold and store large amounts of energy, in addition to a number of other areas.

�� Tri-Cities alumnus Josef Christ observes the electrical signals from a 3D-printed sensor made from nanomaterials as it is stretched using a testing device.

With the glove prototype, they used the sensors in the fingers of the glove, measuring how much the sensor contracted and expanded with the movement of the fingers. The sensors could also be used to sense the strain in the movement, which could simulate the strain that a person’s hand endures with a particular movement. It could also monitor the amount of times a person moves particular parts of their hands for studies in physical therapy and ways to improve movement.

In the robot being developed for picking apples, the sensor would be applied on the device that would grip the apples to trace the amount of pressure needed in order to not bruise apples.

“For example, if we want a robotic hand to touch and grab sensitive objects, like in apple-picking, the apple is sensitive and we don’t want to use a hard gripper to grip it because it will bruise the apple,” Ameli said. “We can sense where the touch is made and send the feedback to the computer controlling the device.”

For more information on the technology, contact Ameli at 509-372-7442 or a.ameli@wsu.edu.

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�� Tri-Cities student using NSF fellowship to explore soft robotics

Monique Vansant — Wed, 04 May 2016 22:12:46 +0000

by Maegan Murray

RICHLAND, Wash. – Cameron Hohimer, a Washington State University Tri-Cities mechanical engineering doctoral student, will explore the possibilities of soft robotics through 3-D printing as part of a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.

Hohimer was awarded a $34,000 for three-years annual stipend and an additional $12,000 for three years education allowance, which will offset the cost of tuition and fees.

Hohimer had a small part in working on the apple picking robot that �� researchers Manoj Karkee and Changki Mo are constructing with the help of graduate researchers. He said that robot, for example, has rigid links that allow it to grab the apples at certain pressure points for certain sizes and shapes. But with soft robotics, they could attempt to create more compliant actuators, which are responsible for moving or controlling a system, using more malleable materials, he said.

“Soft robotics is a relatively new area of study in which we are trying to create non-rigid actuators and components for robotics systems,” he said. “The nice thing is if you were to use something like this for apple harvesting, as you move into objects, it is compliant. It would bend out of the way. It can more easily form to what it is you are trying to do.”

Hohimer said current methods for creating many of these types of soft robotics materials are done through injection molding and silicon casting, but his hope is that he can use fused deposition modeling, a type of 3-D printing, to make the fabrication process faster and easier, as well as utilize it to create parts and products that are more complex in design.

“You see a lot of applications of soft robotics in creating humanoid robots,” he said. “Obviously our hands are very dexterous. You can pick up a wide range of objects with varying geometries and sizes. Most rigid grabbers, or end effectors, are not good at picking up cylindrical objects and then trying to pick up something that is a different shape. With soft robotics, you can design manipulators that are more robust that can grasp items with a wide variety of shapes and sizes.”

With his research, Hohimer will also investigate the ability to 3-D print piezoelectric polymers, which could be used to sense strain and vibration and be embedded into soft robotic actuators.

Hohimer earned his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering from �� Tri-Cities in 2014. He is two years into his doctoral program in mechanical engineering at �� Tri-Cities.

Contact

Maegan Murray, �� Tri-Cities public relations specialist, 509-372-7333, maegan.murray@tricity.wsu.edu

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3D printing Archives - ������ Tri-Cities

3D-printed sensor technology developed by ������ researchers has applications in prosthetics, robotics, more

������ Tri-Cities student using NSF fellowship to explore soft robotics

by Maegan Murray

3D printing Archives - �� Tri-Cities

3D-printed sensor technology developed by �� researchers has applications in prosthetics, robotics, more

�� Tri-Cities student using NSF fellowship to explore soft robotics