A 3D-printed robotic hand controlled by pressurised water can complete the first level of classic computer game Super Mario Bros in less than 90 seconds.
and his team at the University of Maryland聽3D-printed the hand in a single operation using a machine that can deposit hard plastic, a rubber-like polymer and a water-soluble 鈥渟acrificial鈥� material. This last material enables complicated shapes to be supported during construction before it is rinsed away in water when the printing process is complete.
This range of materials makes it possible to create the rigid skeleton of the device but also what the team calls 鈥渇luidic circuits鈥� that are operated by a single source of pressurised water, and that turn carefully calibrated streams of water from a hose into finger movements.
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The hand鈥檚 three fingers are each triggered by different pressures sent along a single control hose. This means that by carefully controlling the pressure of water pulses sent down the hose, the team could move each of the three fingers and operate a game controller with enough precision to play the game.
The device cost just a few pounds to manufacture and was created using a commercially available 3D printer.
Sochol says: 鈥淣ormally you鈥檇 plug a control line into every one of these fingers to be able to play Nintendo, and the more fingers that you have, the more of these external control inputs that you鈥檙e going to need.鈥�
But having so many control inputs is cumbersome, and using just one control input instead makes the system much simpler to build.
Sochol says that soft robotics such as this hand can create devices that are safer for humans to be around than powerful, rigid metal machines. They can also be powered by relatively safe sources of energy like pressurised water or air, and may lead to advances in prosthetic limbs.
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