3D Printed: Robot Snake with Poly Lactic Acid Material

Abstract

The design, programming and the deployment of modular robotics are a new method in the field of robotics. Modular robots area autonomous and self-reconfigurable. It can change its shape by changing its topology. In this research, we propose an approach which combines evolutionary robotics with 3D printing as an approach for rapid and cheaper method for the fabrication of autonomous mobile robots. Capitalizing on the automated design and the optimization phases of evolutionary robotics and harnessing the fast and relatively low cost of 3D printing, our tests show that the time required and cost involved to design, fabricate and successfully deploy evolved and 3D printed continuum robots as well as hybrid articulated-wheeled mobile robots can indeed be observably be reduced. Arduino is used as control unit. Use of Arduino allows ease of programming and hardware development.