Characterization of 3D printed conductive soft robotic elements

The thesis makes the characterization of 3D printed conductive soft robotic elements by using data to develop an evaluation model from specific to general. In the first step, the thesis provides the findings of past research and related articles as a literature survey. The chapter begins with the fundamentals and importance of 3D printing and continues with an explanation of the ability of soft robotic 3D printing. Examples from soft robotic works follow the previous chapter, and sensing at soft robotic elements is briefly explained as the next step. Finally, the section ends with related topics and focuses on other conductive soft robotic element articles. The last part explains the aim of the research and its motivation. The following chapter emphasizes methods and material selection topics thoroughly. The next section presents the used parameters and detailed information about the physical boundaries of the material. The sequent section provides information about printing constants and machine setup. The final part informs about curing time, molding phases, and molding setup. The third chapter starts with a detailed explanation of test setup and expresses every step of test setup assembling, including two different test molds and specimen holders. The chapter continues with the testing process and shows every single setup parameter for providing data for future research. The last part of the chapter focuses on the test result and discusses test results through graphs made using test result data. Final generalizations are given in this section. The final chapter finishes the article by giving a conclusion to all work. The following sections tell about future work and possible usage suggestions. The appendices have pictures of test results as tables from both tests.