Design and printing of proprioceptive three-dimensional architected robotic metamaterials
Huachen Cui, Desheng Yao, Ryan Hensleigh, Haotian Lu, Ariel A. Calderón, Zhenpeng Xu, Sheyda Davaria, Zhen Wang, Patrick P. Mercier, Pablo A. Tarazaga, Xiaoyu Zheng
Abstract
Advances in additive manufacturing techniques have enabled the creation of stimuli-responsive materials with designed three-dimensional (3D) architectures. Unlike biological systems in which functions such as sensing, actuation, and control are closely integrated, few architected materials have comparable system complexity. We report a design and manufacturing route to create a class of robotic metamaterials capable of motion with multiple degrees of freedom, amplification of strain in a prescribed direction in response to an electric field (and vice versa), and thus, programmed motions with self-sensing and feedback control. These robotic metamaterials consist of networks of piezoelectric, conductive, and structural elements interwoven into a designed 3D lattice. The resulting architected materials function as proprioceptive microrobots that actively sense and move.