Upgrading and extending the life cycle of soft robots with in situ free-form liquid three-dimensional printing

Soft robotics hardware, with numerous applications ranging from health care to exploration of unstructured environments, suffers from limited life cycles, which lead to waste generation and poor sustainability. Soft robots combine soft or hybrid components via complex assembly and disassembly workflows, which complicate the repair of broken components, hinder upgradability, and ultimately reduce their life spans. In this work, an advanced extrusion-based additive manufacturing process, in situ free-form liquid three-dimensional printing (iFL3DP), was developed to facilitate functional upgrades and repairs in soft robots. A yield-stress hydrogel—a type of material that can maintain its shape until sufficient stress is applied—was first printed directly onto the robot surface, serving as a support for printing new components. This technique enabled the fabrication of advanced components with seamless integration onto already assembled robots. These components could combine multiple materials with intricate geometries, including overhangs and high–aspect ratio shapes, that are considerably challenging to manufacture and integrate via traditional methods such as casting. This approach was successfully applied to upgrade an existing soft robot by adding three advanced functionalities: whisker-like sensors for tactile feedback, a grasping mechanism, and a multifunctional passive whisker array. This study showcases the easy repairability of features, new and old, substantially extending the robot’s life span. This workflow has potential to enhance the sustainable development of soft robots.