Close Menu
AM ChronicleAM Chronicle
  • Content
    • News
    • Insights
    • Case Studies
    • AM Infocast
  • Focus Regions
    • India
    • Asia Pacific
    • Middle East
    • North America
    • Europe
  • Industries
    • Automotive
    • Aerospace
    • Defence
    • Energy
    • Construction
    • Healthcare
    • Tooling
    • Engineering
  • Training
  • Magazine
    • Digital Issues
    • Print Subscription
  • Events
Facebook Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
  • About us
  • Media Kit
  • Contact us
Facebook Instagram YouTube LinkedIn
AM ChronicleAM Chronicle
  • Content
    1. News
    2. Insights
    3. Case Studies
    4. AM Infocast
    5. View All
    Qatar Unveils Largest 3D-Printed Boat by GORD 3D, Credits: GORD 3D

    Qatar’s Largest 3D-Printed Boat Manufactured at GORD 3D Center

    July 4, 2025
    3D printing ceramics with Admaflex DLP technology. Photo via Admatec.

    Admatec and Formatec Re-emerge Under New Ownership and Names

    July 3, 2025
    Sailors aboard the Virginia-class attack submarine USS Texas prepare to depart Portsmouth Naval Shipyard after critical repairs and system upgrades. As the Navy works to enhance fleet readiness and extend the service life of submarines like Texas, APL researchers are partnering with the Naval Sea Systems Command to advance additive manufacturing processes — such as laser powder bed fusion — to deliver consistent, mission-ready components and reduce logistics delays across the fleet.

    Johns Hopkins APL, Navy Team up to Advance Additive Manufacturing for Critical Missions

    June 28, 2025
    Freemelt receives order for Freemelt ONE from a German industrial company, Credits: Freemelt

    Freemelt receives order for Freemelt ONE from a German industrial company

    June 25, 2025
    Digital Twin Integration in Additive Manufacturing Systems: Revolutionizing Design, Production, and Lifecycle Management

    Digital Twin Integration in Additive Manufacturing Systems: Revolutionizing Design, Production, and Lifecycle Management

    July 4, 2025
    LACS equipment set-up to add a coating to repair a panel aircraft wing

    Laser-assisted cold spray: a new generation of innovative manufacturing technology

    July 3, 2025
    Oerlikon Reaches 25,000 3D-Printed Suppressors Milestone, Advancing Next Generation Defense Applications, Credits: Oerlikon

    Oerlikon Reaches 25,000 3D-Printed Suppressors Milestone, Advancing Next Generation Defense Applications

    June 24, 2025
    ArianeGroup and Nikon SLM Solutions Join Forces to Advance Ultra-Large-Scale Additive Manufacturing for Space Applications

    ArianeGroup and Nikon SLM Solutions Join Forces to Advance Ultra-Large-Scale Additive Manufacturing for Space Applications

    June 21, 2025
    Formlabs fuse 1+

    How Imaginarium Helped Kaash Studio Scale with the Right 3D Printing Technology

    April 12, 2025
    The Formlabs Fuse 1+ 30W

    Kaash Studio Optimized Service Bureau Operations with Formlabs 3D Printers- Case Study

    January 30, 2025
    Namthaja Unveils Worlds First 3D Printed Marine Gangway

    Worlds First 3D Printed Marine Gangway unveiled by Namthaja

    August 8, 2024
    RusselSmith Material Performance Improvement Whitepaper

    RusselSmith Whitepaper : Improving Material Performance with Microstructural Refinement

    May 9, 2024
    Sustainable Production of Metal Powder for Additive Manufacturing

    Sustainable Production of Metal Powder for Additive Manufacturing with Bruce Bradshaw

    February 15, 2024
    Meeting Evolving Customer Demands in the Additive Manufacturing Industry with Tyler Reid

    Meeting Evolving Customer Demands in the Additive Manufacturing Industry with Tyler Reid

    February 9, 2024
    Innovation is at the heart of AMUG with Diana Kalisz

    Innovation is at the heart of AMUG with Diana Kalisz

    March 7, 2023
    3D Printing Workshops at AMUG with Edward Graham

    3D Printing Workshops at AMUG with Edward Graham

    March 7, 2023
    Digital Twin Integration in Additive Manufacturing Systems: Revolutionizing Design, Production, and Lifecycle Management

    Digital Twin Integration in Additive Manufacturing Systems: Revolutionizing Design, Production, and Lifecycle Management

    July 4, 2025
    Qatar Unveils Largest 3D-Printed Boat by GORD 3D, Credits: GORD 3D

    Qatar’s Largest 3D-Printed Boat Manufactured at GORD 3D Center

    July 4, 2025
    LACS equipment set-up to add a coating to repair a panel aircraft wing

    Laser-assisted cold spray: a new generation of innovative manufacturing technology

    July 3, 2025
    3D printing ceramics with Admaflex DLP technology. Photo via Admatec.

    Admatec and Formatec Re-emerge Under New Ownership and Names

    July 3, 2025
  • Focus Regions
    • India
    • Asia Pacific
    • Middle East
    • North America
    • Europe
  • Industries
    • Automotive
    • Aerospace
    • Defence
    • Energy
    • Construction
    • Healthcare
    • Tooling
    • Engineering
  • Training
  • Magazine
    • Digital Issues
    • Print Subscription
  • Events
Subscribe
AM ChronicleAM Chronicle
Home » News

This 3D Printed Gripper Doesn’t Need Electronics To Function

News By AM Chronicle EditorJuly 29, 20234 Mins Read
UCSD JacobsSchool 20230613 Tolley lab Gripper 06241 8MP med e1690536484861
Close up photograph of part of the new robotic gripper that functions without electronics. Soft robotics holds the promise of allowing robots to interact safely with huma
LinkedIn Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Pinterest Email Copy Link

The device developed by a team of roboticists at the University of California San Diego, in collaboration with researchers at the BASF corporation, who detailed their work in a recent issue of Science Robotics. The device is printed all in one go and can pick and release objects. This soft robotic gripper is not only 3D printed in one print, it also doesn’t need any electronics to work.

The researchers wanted to design a soft gripper that would be ready to use right as it comes off the 3D printer, equipped with built in gravity and touch sensors. As a result, the gripper can pick up, hold, and release objects. No such gripper existed before this work.

“We designed functions so that a series of valves would allow the gripper to both grip on contact and release at the right time,” said Yichen Zhai, a postdoctoral researcher in the Bioinspired Robotics and Design Lab at the University of California San Diego and the leading author of the paper, which was published in the June 21 issue of Science Robotics. “It’s the first time such a gripper can both grip and release. All you have to do is turn the gripper horizontally. This triggers a change in the airflow in the valves, making the two fingers of the gripper release.”

This fluidic logic allows the robot to remember when it has grasped an object and is holding on to it. When it detects the weight of the object pushing to the side, as it is rotating to the horizontal, it releases the object.

UCSD JacobsSchool 20230613 Tolley lab Gripper 06241 8MP med e1690536484861
Close up photograph of part of the new robotic gripper that functions without electronics.

Soft robotics holds the promise of allowing robots to interact safely with humans and delicate objects. This gripper can be mounted on a robotic arm for industrial manufacturing applications, food production and the handling of fruits and vegetables. It can also be mounted onto a robot for research and exploration tasks. In addition, it can function untethered, with a bottle of high-pressure gas as its only power source.

Most 3D-printed soft robots often have a certain degree of stiffness; contain a large number of leaks when they come off the printer; and need a fair amount of processing and assembly after printing in order to be usable.

The team overcame these obstacles by developing a new 3D printing method, which involves the printer nozzle tracing a continuous path through the entire pattern of each layer printed.

“It’s like drawing a picture without ever lifting the pencil off the page,” said Michael T. Tolley, the senior author on the paper and an associate professor in the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

This method reduces the likelihood of leaks and defects in the printed piece, which are very common when printing with soft materials.

The new method also allows for printing of thin walls, down to 0.5 millimeters in thickness. The thinner walls and complex, curved shapes allow for a higher range of deformation, resulting in a softer structure overall. Researchers based the method on the Eulerian path, which in graph theory is a trail in a graph that touches every edge of that graph once and once only.

“When we followed these rules, we were able to consistently print functional pneumatic soft robots with embedded control circuits,” said Tolley.

Desktop Digital Fabrication of Autonomous Monolithic Soft Robotics Devices with Embedded Fluidic Control Circuits

Yichen Zhain, Jioayao Yan, Benjamin Shih, Michael T. Tolley, University of California San Diego

Albert De Boer, Martin Faber, Joshua Speros, Rohini Gupta, BASF

Subscribe to AM Chronicle Newsletter to stay connected:  https://bit.ly/3fBZ1mP 

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3IjhrFq 

Visit for more interesting content on additive manufacturing: https://amchronicle.com

Original Source

3d printing 3D printing research additive manufacturing Robotics soft robotics University of California San Diego
AM Chronicle Editor

NAMIC GLOBAL AM SUMMIT 2025
LATEST FROM AM
Digital Twin Integration in Additive Manufacturing Systems: Revolutionizing Design, Production, and Lifecycle Management Insights

Digital Twin Integration in Additive Manufacturing Systems: Revolutionizing Design, Production, and Lifecycle Management

July 4, 202520 Mins Read
Qatar Unveils Largest 3D-Printed Boat by GORD 3D, Credits: GORD 3D News

Qatar’s Largest 3D-Printed Boat Manufactured at GORD 3D Center

July 4, 20252 Mins Read
LACS equipment set-up to add a coating to repair a panel aircraft wing Insights

Laser-assisted cold spray: a new generation of innovative manufacturing technology

July 3, 20259 Mins Read

CONNECT WITH US

  • 126 A, Dhuruwadi, A. V. Nagvekar Marg, Prabhadevi, Mumbai 400025
  • [email protected]
  • +91 022 24306319
Facebook Instagram YouTube LinkedIn

Newsletter

Subscribe to the AM Chronicle mailer to receive latest tech updates and insights from global industry experts.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Quick Links

  • News
  • Insights
  • Case Studies
  • AM Training
  • AM Infocast
  • AM Magazine
  • Events

Media

  • Advertise with us
  • Sponsored Articles
  • Media Kit

Events

  • AM Conclave 2025
    24-25 September 2025 | ADNEC, Abu Dhabi
  • AMTECH 2025
    3-4 December 2025 | KTPO, Whitefield, Bengaluru
CNT Expositions & Services LLP
© 2025 CNT Expositions & Services LLP.
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.



0 / 75