The Printable Machines Studio dives into emerging robotics research that asks, ‘how can we transform robotic manufacturing in the same way information technologies have transformed communication.’ Printable machines are a new class of robotics that are leveraging traditional and novel technologies to provide inexpensive, on-demand, and DIY cyber-physical systems. Key to these systems is a melding of computer processing with material design—what many may refer to as programmable materials. The result is a future where smart, customized, robotic systems are printed at home by desktop technologies and implemented in our daily lives. 

The studio is an introduction to the fundamental technologies behind current research into printable machines.   Students will gain hands on experience with two primary technologies, pop-up robotic manufacturing and embedded computing and sensing with Arduino:

The first technology, pop-up robotics, is a method pioneered by researchers at Harvard’s Microrobitics Lab that utilizes computer aided design (CAD) and manufacturing (CAM) to design, fabricate, and assemble, two-dimensional laminated materials that self-assemble and ‘pop-up’ into three-dimensional kinematics systems. Within the context of the Printable Machines Studio, students will learn how to go from computer model to laser cutter to laminator in order to build novel kinematics systems with a smart material make-up.

The second technology, embedded computing and sensing will introduce students to the popular microprocessing platform, Arduino. For over a decade, Arduino has inspired a robust community of at home and professional makers, hackers, and DIY’ers to embed computer processing in our everyday lives. Students will learn the fundamentals of the Arduino coding language, electrical circuit design, sensing and actuation, and how to use a combination of these system to design robotic systems capable of sensing and responding to their environment.