Development of a Photo-Curing 3D Printer for Fabrication of Small-Scale Soft Robots With Programming Spatial Magnetization

作     者：Li, Shishi Meng, Xianghe Shen, Xingjian Wang, Jinrong Xie, Hui 

作者机构：Harbin Inst Technol State Key Lab Robot & Syst Harbin 150080 Peoples R China 

出 版 物：《IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS》 (IEEE Robot. Autom.)

年 卷 期：2025年第10卷第3期

页      面：2766-2773页

核心收录：

学科分类：0808[工学-电气工程] 08[工学] 0811[工学-控制科学与工程] 

基　　金：National Key R&D Program of China [2023YFB4705600] National Natural Science Foundation of China [61925304, 62127810, 62203138] 

主　　题：Three-dimensional printing Solenoids Robots Coils Magnetization Magnetic separation Soft robotics Fabrication Programming Curing Soft robot materials and design additive manufacturing biologically-inspired robots 

摘      要：The magnetic soft robot has potential applications in biomimetic, soft interaction, and biomedical fields. However, its functionality depends on deformation patterns and locomotion modes, challenging the fabrication of complex structures with precise magnetization. Therefore, we developed a programming magnetization photo-curing 3D printer for fabrication of small-scale soft robots. The printer integrates a three-dimensional magnetic field generator (3D-MFG) and a digital light processing photo-curing system. The 3D-MFG generates a high-strength (up to 80 mT) magnetic field through Halbach arrays (x-y plane) and a solenoid (z-axis), generating arbitrary uniform magnetic field with low energy consumption. Adhesion between the printed structure and the substrate was analyzed, and A real-time force-based printing control method is presented for precise optimization of key parameters, including layer thickness, approaching force, and separation speed, enhancing overall print quality and reliability in stacking of complex three-dimensional structures. Finally, a crawling robot mimicking inchworm gait, a swimming robot with butterfly-inspired motion, and a capsule robot for targeted drug delivery were fabricated by the developed system. These experimental results validated the printer s capability to fabricate highly complex structures, advancing the practical application of small-scale soft robots in biomimetic and biomedical fields.