[alife] New paper: 1D Printing of Recyclable Robots

[Sebastian Risi]

Hi all,

I'm very pleased to announce our new paper (on behalf of myself,
Daniel Cellucci, Robert MacCurdy, and Hod Lipson) on a 1D printing
system that can fold specialised robots out of a single string of
source material. Additionally, the material can be unfolded and fed
back into the printer to produce a different robot. The paper might be
of interest for some people here since the robot folding patterns are
determined by evolved CPPNs.

Title: 1D Printing of  Recyclable Robots
Authors: Daniel Cellucci, Robert MacCurdy, Hod Lipson, Sebastian Risi (2017)
In: EEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L).

Link: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7950924/
PDF: http://sebastianrisi.com/wp-content/uploads/cellucci_ral17.pdf

Video: https://youtu.be/ElW0O2IiuXA

Abstract:
Recent advances in 3D printing are revolutionizing manufacturing,
enabling the fabrication of structures with unprecedented complexity
and functionality. Yet biological systems are able to fabricate
systems with far greater complexity using a process that involves
assembling and folding a linear string. Here, we demonstrate a 1D
printing system that uses an approach inspired by the ribosome to
fabricate a variety of specialized robotic automata from a single
string of source material. This proof-ofconcept system involves both a
novel manufacturing platform that configures the source material using
folding and a computational optimization tool that allows designs to
be produced from the specification of high-level goals. We show that
our 1D printing system is able to produce three distinct robots from
the same source material, each of which is capable of accomplishing a
specialized locomotion task. Moreover, we demonstrate the ability of
the printer to use recycled material to produce new designs, enabling
an autonomous manufacturing ecosystem capable of repurposing previous
iterations to accomplish new tasks.

Best,
Sebastian

 --
Dr. Sebastian Risi
Associate Professor
IT University of Copenhagen, Room 5D12
Rued Langgaards Vej 7, 2300 Copenhagen, Denmark
email: sebastian.risi at gmail.com, web: www.sebastianrisi.com
mobile: +45-50250355, office: +45-7218-5018