Three-dimensional printing of a functionally graded robotic end effector

Inventors: Cora Leibig (Maple Grove, MN); Michael Garrod (Minnetrista, MN)

Assignee: CHROMATIC 3D MATERIALS INC.

B29C64/106 B32B5/20 B33Y10/00 B33Y70/00 B33Y80/00 B29C64/30 B29K2101/10 B32B7/022 B32B2307/536 B33Y40/10

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 12709054
App. No.: 17/635,361
Granted: Aug 18, 2026
Kind: B2

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Abstract

A robotic end effector comprising at least two fingers connected through joints and a deformable pad on an exterior of the at least two fingers, wherein the deformable pad comprises a functionally graded hardness. A method for three dimensional printing of a deformable pad of a robotic end effector, comprising depositing a first material on an exterior of at least two fingers connected through joints, and depositing a second material on an exterior of the at least two fingers connected through joints, to produce a deformable pad, wherein the first material and the second material have a different hardness and the deformable pad comprises a functionally graded hardness.

Claims (28)

1 . A method for three-dimensional printing of a robotic end effector finger comprising:

depositing a first thermosetting material having a first hardness when set to form a first thermoset material,

depositing a second thermosetting material having a second hardness when set to form a second thermoset material which is different than the first hardness such that the first thermoset material is connected to the second thermoset material to form at least a portion of a finger of the robotic end effector wherein at least a portion of the first thermoset material, and/or the second thermoset material form a deformable pad of the finger, and

providing a first sensor and a second sensor,

wherein the first thermosetting material, and the second thermosetting material are deposited layer by layer to form the portion of the finger;

wherein the depositing comprises the sequential steps of

providing a first sensor;

depositing at least one layer of the first thermosetting material over the first sensor to embed the first sensor under the at least one layer of the first thermosetting material;

providing a second sensor over the first thermosetting material; and

depositing at least one layer of the second thermosetting material over the second sensor to embed the second sensor under the at least one layer of the second thermosetting material.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first thermoset material and the second thermoset material are deposited on an exterior of a finger substrate.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising placing the first sensor on top of a deposited layer of the first thermoset material, and depositing another layer of the first thermoset material over the first sensor.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first thermoset material and the second thermoset material comprises a foam.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the first thermoset material is a foam, and the second thermoset material is solid thermoset material.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second hardness is greater than the first hardness.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first hardness is greater than the second hardness.

8 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the first hardness is greater than the second hardness.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first thermoset material and the second thermoset material are deposited to form a continuous functionality graded hardness gradient from the first hardness to the second hardness.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first thermoset material and the second thermoset material are deposited to form a non-linear functionality graded hardness gradient from the first hardness to the second hardness.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the robotic end effector comprises at least two fingers.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the deformable pad has a corrugated surface.

13 . A robotic end effector comprising a finger comprising a first thermoset material having a first hardness and a second thermoset material having a second hardness different from the first hardness, wherein the first thermoset material is connected to the second thermoset material to form at least a portion of the finger of the robotic end effector, wherein at least a portion of the first thermoset material and the second thermoset material form a deformable pad of the finger,

wherein

the first thermoset material is present as one or more layers in the deformable pad of the finger and the second thermoset material is present as one or more layers in the deformable pad of the finger and the deformable pad of the finger further comprises (a) a first sensor embedded in the deformable pad of the finger, wherein the first sensor is disposed below the at least one layer of the first thermoset material, and (b) a second sensor embedded in the deformable pad of the finger, wherein the second sensor is disposed above the at least one layer of the first thermoset material in the deformable pad of the finger and below the at least one layer of the second thermoset material in the deformable pad of the finger.

14 . The robotic end effector according to claim 13 , wherein the first sensor is disposed between two layers of the first or second thermoset material and the second sensor is disposed between a layer of the first thermoset material and a layer of the second thermoset material.

15 . The robotic end effector according to claim 13 , wherein the first thermoset material and the second thermoset material form a continuous functionality graded hardness gradient from the first hardness to the second hardness.

16 . The robotic end effector according to claim 13 , wherein the second hardness is greater than the first hardness.

17 . The robotic end effector according to claim 13 , wherein the first hardness is greater than the second hardness.