Hydrogel materials possess intrinsic softness and they also exhibit other favorable properties that make them a perfect fabrication material for biomimetic soft robots: stretchability, biocompatibility, permeability, and stimuli-adaptability. | |||||||||||||||||
Currently, the pervasive application of hydrogels for soft robotic constructs is still hampered by two challenges. For one, conventional hydrogels usually show limited mechanical robustness. For another, the building of hydrogel-based robots typically depends on custom-designed molds and laborious post-assembly, which limits the freeform 3D structure design. | |||||||||||||||||
In general, there still is a lack of manufacturing schemes that can enable the rapid design of biomimetic soft robots from hydrogels with desired architectural sophistication and mechanical robustness. | |||||||||||||||||
Recently, the research group of Ghim Wei Ho, an Associate Professor at National University of Singapore, has developed a facile and versatile strategy to directly print hydrogels into biomimetic soft robots. | |||||||||||||||||
"Biocompatible alginate rheological modifier of hydrogel allows straightforward manufacturing into arbitrary 3D topologies using direct-ink-write (DIW) 3D printing," Ho explains. "Notably, the intrinsically hydrophilic alginate preserves the valuable properties of the host hydrogels, accompanied by enhanced mechanical toughness owing to the double polymer network."
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