Stretchable Electronic Systems Enabling Rigid Electronic Payloads

Stretchable Electronic Systems Enabling Rigid Electronic Payloads

Presenter(s)

Adin Stoller

Comments

9:00-10:15, Kennedy Union Ballroom

Description

Recent innovations in the space of Additive Manufacturing (AM) and 3D printing have resulted in increasing print complexity and resolution as well as an ever-expanding library of materials from which to print. While this has dramatic implications for every field supported by AM, the field of Soft and Wearable Robotics (SWR) has considerable potential to benefit from continued innovations in AM. 3D-printing methods, such as Digital Light Processing (DLP) in particular, enable developers to design and print complex structural components for SWR systems. Unlike other AM methods, such as Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), DLP allows for the selection of a wide range of elastomeric materials optimized for SWR needs (e.g., high strain, extreme temperatures, and self-healing).Additive Manufacturing has long allowed for the creation of basic SWR prototypes, such as pneumatically actuated fingers. With the integration of rigid electronic payloads and stretchable electronic circuits into AM elastomeric substrates (which are inherently insulators), these components will have the ability to sense and react to their environment in unprecedented ways. The next generation of soft robotics will be enabled by novel approaches to adding conductivity to additively manufactured soft robotic structures. With the creation of SWR material systems with embedded electronics, these new “electronic materials” have a wide range of possible applications, including strain sensing, capacitive touch, and stretchable heaters. Thus, developments in the fabrication of these components are necessary to fully realize the capability of SWR systems.

Publication Date

4-23-2025

Project Designation

Honors Thesis

Primary Advisor

Dorian Borbonus, Robert L. Lowe

Primary Advisor's Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Keywords

Stander Symposium, School of Engineering

Institutional Learning Goals

Scholarship

Stretchable Electronic Systems Enabling Rigid Electronic Payloads

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