Toward Industrial Silicone 3D Printing of Soft Robots

Abstract

So far, the soft robotics community has been concerned with making progress in the field and less with transferring the new knowledge into industrial applications. Especially extrusion-based silicone 3D printing of soft robotic structures is still in its infancy, as industrial silicone 3D printers are rare and not readily applicable. Here, we describe our first steps toward industrial silicone 3D printing of soft robots in terms of design guidelines for manufacturing and function.