Researchers develop gas powered 3D-printed robot

The team from the Bioinspired Robotics Laboratory at the University of California San Diego built their six-legged robot with a desktop 3D-printer and an off-the-shelf printing material at a cost of around $20. Their work is described in Advanced Intelligent Systems.

“This is a completely different way of looking at building machines,” said Michael Tolley, a professor in the UC San Diego Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the paper’s senior author. 

The researchers tested the robots in the lab and showed that as long as they were connected to a source of air or gas under constant pressure, they could function non-stop for three days. The team also showed that the untethered robots could traverse different surfaces, including turf, sand, and underwater.

 “These robots are not manufactured with any of the traditional, rigid components researchers typically use,” Tolley said in a statement. Instead, they are made of simple 3D-printing filament.