Rob Shepherd
9/12/17
The liquid phase processing of polymers has been used in the last 100 years to produce items that vary in size and function from buoyant boat hulls to the living hinges on tic-tac boxes. Recently, the fields of stretchable electronics and soft robotics have made significant progress in manufacturing approaches to add increased mechanical function as well as sensory feedback from the additive manufacturing of soft materials, including polymers and elastomers. This talk will be a survey of the work my research group, the Organic Robotics Laboratory, has contributed in this space. Much of the work will revolved around a 3D printing process called Projection Stereolithography. Our group leases a Carbon M1 3D printer that is available for other researchers to use, so attending this talk can also be seen as an introduction to the process and its capabilities.