Editorial: 4D printing and 3D printing in robotics, sensors, and actuators manufacturing

摘要

Editorial on the Research Topic 4D printing and 3D printing in robotics, sensors, and actuators manufacturing Recent advances in additive manufacturing (AM) techniques, particularly threedimensional (3D) printing and four-dimensional (4D) printing have enabled the production of different parts of robots, including sensors and actuators, with high multifunctionality, compliance, and manufacturing flexibility unlike in traditional approaches Based on pre-programmed architectures that are often inspired by biological structures, 4D-printed robots and soft robots are adaptive mechanisms responding to external stimuli, like temperature, force, electricity, light, and humidity made with polymeric based composites Indeed, the autonomous actuation offered by 4D printing envisages frugal engineering with robots without wire nor motor. They can be applied in a wide range of applications, including medical assisted robots, automotive, aerospace, microfluidics, tissue engineering, drug delivery, and wearable electronics The design and prediction of behavior and control of these products is yet a complex problem requiring the multiphysics formulation where machine learning and deep learning techniques have been promising. This Research Topic aimed to promote the dissemination of recent advances in AM of soft robots, including sensors, actuators, metamaterials, morphology control and novel design strategies.