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  • 11/15/2023
3D printing has revolutionized myriad industries, letting individuals and companies to print pretty much anything. However, researchers have now revolutionized that process as well, allowing the printing of complex mechanisms including soft and hard materials.
Transcript
00:00 3D printing has revolutionized myriad industries, letting individuals and companies print pretty
00:08 much anything.
00:09 However, researchers have now revolutionized that process as well, allowing the printing
00:14 of complex mechanisms, including soft and hard materials.
00:17 The process combines 3D printing and laser scanning, letting engineers use both fast
00:22 and slow-curing plastics.
00:24 That means they can print the rigid skeleton of, say, a robotic hand, and then print the
00:28 soft tissues like tendons and ligaments on top of that.
00:31 What is eventually produced is a fully functioning robotic hand, or part, or basically whatever
00:35 you want, and it's all done inside a casing of wax, which is then easily melted away after
00:40 the whole process is complete.
00:42 The team who developed it at ETH Zurich say slow-curing polymers were key to the whole
00:46 concept, as they were able to bend and return to their original shape much more easily.
00:50 Laser scanning lets them monitor those slow-curing polymers as they cure, allowing any irregularities
00:55 to be compensated for and adjusted as subsequent layers are printed.
00:59 It's all in the name of soft robotics, which experts say is the future, as those types
01:04 of devices pose less of an injury threat to humans and are better for handling fragile
01:08 objects.
01:09 [music]

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