Advances in printing technologies for soft robotics devices applications

Abstract

Soft robots, made of deformable and stretchable materials, have been exploited and investigated as promising technologies for a wide range of applications, from human assistance to rehabilitation. In this context, the possibility to integrate conformable, flexible and stretchable sensors able to detect external stimuli allows a further increase of the potentiality of soft robotics. The realization of soft, flexible, and stretchable electronic circuits and sensors is mainly enabled by the low-cost prototyping possibilities offered by the printing techniques, especially screen and inkjet printing. Simplified processing steps, reduced material wastage, low fabrication cost, high throughput, as well as the ability to dispose of different small patterns over larger areas while being able to pattern a wide range of materials on diverse flexible and soft substrates, are some of the advantages that have made screen and inkjet printing techniques very attractive also in this field.