Compliant Rolling-contact Architectured Materials for Shape Reconfiguration

The aim of this work is to enable the creation of a new kind of architectured material that consists of a lattice of micro-cams that roll along each other’s surfaces guided by different layers of compliant straps that assure slip-free rolling-contact only motions. These new materials achieve large shape deformations with near-zero stiffness and high precision due to the minimal friction that they generate. They can also be designed to achieve large transmissions or mechanical advantages according to the relative sizes of the cam-shaped bodies within the lattice. This work also introduces a new approach for fabricating such materials that combines two-photon stereolithography with optical tweezers to first 3D print the micro-cams with straight flexure straps and to then use the optical forces to deform the flexure straps by rolling the bodies together. The materials introduced would impact numerous applications (i.e., high precision, large-range bears to guide microscopy stages, optical mounts, or nano-positioners, actuator couplings that alter the stroke, resolution, or load capacity of the actuators to which they are attached, and airfoils that can reconfigure their shape for improving flight maneuverability).