Exploring the material properties of small scale folded structures

Abstract

make robotics more readily available to the average person. Although designs for a number of successful printable robots have already been produced, there has been little formal exploration into the materials properties of these structures. Three point bending tests were performed on beams made of the materials and cross-sectional geometries of current designs to determine the bending stiffness of the printable beams currently found in printable robots, particularly the printable quad-rotor frame. As expected the composite acrylic and PEEK triangular beam had the highest bending stiffness El at 4.15 ± 1.67 N*m2. The lowest El was the triangular PEEK beam in its weak configuration at 0.02 ± 0.005 N*m2. 3D printed ABS beams had an unreliable result, with El in the range of 11.7 ± 8.05 N*m2. Overall our experimentally calculated values for El were generally consistent with the theoretically calculated values, providing useful information to inform future design choices and understanding the limitations of printable robot structures.