(ORDO NEWS) — German industrial equipment manufacturer Festo has developed a robotic “spider” that weaves three-dimensional fiberglass structures.
The 3D Cocooner robot is an EXPT-45 series manipulator equipped with a special extruder through which fiberglass and photocurable adhesive are fed.
The design is equipped with a circular saw that cuts off excess parts of the structure from the extruder when the print head needs to move on.
The “web” that the manipulator spins consists of flexible soft threads coated with plastic resin. UV radiation from the printhead causes the adhesive to harden, turning the cocoon into a strong structure.
However, if necessary, the resin can be softened again, which allows you to further build the threads to any part of the structure.
The 3D Cocooner is controlled by a computer with special computer-aided design software, which allows you to calculate and evaluate the reliability and rigidity of the finished structure even before the start of cocoon weaving.
Meanwhile, the American company Tethers Unlimited is developing a technology for building in outer space using giant spiders:
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