Printed robots with bones, ligaments, and tendons

3D printed in one go: A robotic hand made of varyingly rigid and elastic polymers. (Photograph: ETH Zurich/Thomas Buchner) For the first time, researchers have succeeded in printing a robotic hand with bones, ligaments and tendons made of different polymers using a new laser scanning technique. 3D printing is advancing rapidly, and the range of materials that can be used has expanded considerably. While the technology was previously limited to fast-curing plastics, it has now been made suitable for slow-curing plastics as well. These have decisive advantages as they have enhanced elastic properties and are more durable and robust. The robotic hand is printed layer by layer using polymers of varying elasticity (left: schematic, right: computer graphics). (Visualisations: Buchner TJK et al.