Design and fabrication of multi-material structures for bioinspired robots

New multi-material rapid prototyping processes are making possible the design and fabrication of bioinspired robot structures that share some of the desirable properties of animal appendages. The structures combine stiff and compliant materials and incorporate sensors and other discrete components, resulting in robots that are less demanding to control than traditionally designed robots and more robust. Current challenges include extending this approach to the structures that involve microscopic as well as macroscopic features.