Towards Very Low-Cost Iterative Prototyping for Fully Printable Dexterous Soft Robotic Hands

TL;DR

This paper introduces a low-cost, rapid prototyping approach for designing durable, lightweight, and dexterous soft robotic hands using multi-material 3D printing, simplifying the fabrication process.

Contribution

It presents a novel combination of low-cost fabrication techniques and design tools for efficient, systematic creation of soft robotic hands with enhanced dexterity and durability.

Findings

Designs are highly durable and surprisingly strong.

Generated hands are capable of dexterous grasping.

The approach significantly reduces fabrication costs and time.

Abstract

The design and fabrication of soft robot hands is still a time-consuming and difficult process. Advances in rapid prototyping have accelerated the fabrication process significantly while introducing new complexities into the design process. In this work, we present an approach that utilizes novel low-cost fabrication techniques in conjunction with design tools helping soft hand designers to systematically take advantage of multi-material 3D printing to create dexterous soft robotic hands. While very low cost and lightweight, we show that generated designs are highly durable, surprisingly strong, and capable of dexterous grasping.