Research Assistant Dumo Lab, Stuart Weitzman School of Design, University of Pennsylvania
The project addresses a central question: Can conformal, water-based, non-planar extrusion produce customizable medical supports with tunable density, flexibility, and stiffness? This research investigates a hybrid digital fabrication workflow that integrates 3D body scanning with six-axis robotic conformal and non-planar 3D printing of water-based fibrous biomaterials to create patient-specific ligament braces with variable densities and customizable flexibility or stiffness. Building upon the scanned human limb geometry, and generating accurate point-cloud models that capture precise 3D topological surfaces of patient limb geometry, non-planar toolpaths are designed specifically for the complex and irregular 3D surfaces of the patient’s limb. Leveraging the full kinematic range of a six-axis robotic arm, these toolpaths orient the printing nozzle continuously along the local surface normal, enabling fluid biomaterials to be deposited in tight conformity with the scanned topology. This approach minimizes geometric deviation, enhances brace-to-body contact accuracy, and allows material trajectories to follow natural muscular and skeletal contours. Because water-based biomaterial pastes lack the immediate structural rigidity required for unsupported non-planar extrusion, the workflow incorporates a custom physical 3D printing base that temporarily supports the deposit during drying. Within this supported environment, the robotic system can execute multi-layered conformal paths, controlled texturing, and density gradients, yielding highly localized mechanical behaviors aligned with clinical needs such as stabilization for wrist synovitis. Preliminary outcomes demonstrate that combining precise scanning with robotic non-planar 3D print toolpath generation substantially expands the design space for sustainable, recyclable medical devices. This work advances the broader goal of enabling rapid, low cost, patient-specific fabrication of flexible medical supports through fluid-based non-planar 3D printing.
Learning Objectives:
Upon completion, participants will be able to describe the full digital fabrication workflow integrating 3D body scanning with conformal robotic 3D printing.
Upon completion, participants will be able to understand the material behavior and process parameters of water-based biomaterial extrusion on non-planar surfaces.
Upon completion, participants will be able to demonstrate how patient-specific ligament braces can be designed and produced through this hybrid computational and robotic method.
