Summary
- Profile Type
- Technology request
- POD Reference
- TRFR20240611023
- Term of Validity
- 11 June 2024 - 11 June 2025
- Company's Country
- France
- Type of partnership
- Research and development cooperation agreement
- Commercial agreement with technical assistance
- Targeted Countries
- All countries
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General information
- Short Summary
- A French and American university spin-off which develops revolutionary autonomous, wireless, and battery-free microsystems for a more sustainable future is developing a phygital material, a multipurpose technology based on the collaboration of autonomous micro-robots to generate interactive "phygital" forms. The company is seeking an industrializable technology to manufacture low-roughness 3D quasi-sphere shells for the microrobots and coat them with thin electrode patterns.
- Full Description
-
The spin-off has previously explored resin 3D printing and PVD, but these techniques have shown limitations in terms of precision and surface finishing, particularly when it comes to functional rounding.
It is looking for experts and technologies in polymer processing, micro-injection or additive manufacturing and metal deposition on 3D substrates to assess the feasibility of the solution regarding the constraints described below.
These modular micro-robots consist of two quasi-spherical half-shells with a diameter of <4 mm and a thickness of 0.2-0.4 mm, currently fabricated by resin printing (2PP) or µ-injection. The outer surface of these half-shells must be smooth (roughness of about 50 nm) to ensure the proper functioning of the microrobots. Shells material must be transparent.
These microrobots use electrostatic forces to attach to and move around metal surfaces or other microrobots. To achieve this, they require a double layer coating consisting of a 100-300 nm conductive material pattern with <100 µm minimum spacing, and a 200-400 nm dielectric layer (material options include but are not limited to SiO2, TiO2, and Al2O3). - Advantages and Innovations
- Low rugosity makes latching and rolling by electrostatic capacitive coupling easier, electrostatic forces are limited thus the overall layers weight must remain as small as possible.
- Stage of Development
- Under development
- Sustainable Development Goals
- Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
- Goal 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- IPR description
- It is looking for experts and technologies in polymer processing, micro-injection or additive manufacturing and metal deposition on 3D substrates to assess the feasibility of the solution regarding the described constraints.
Partner Sought
- Expected Role of a Partner
- Industrial or academic partners that specialise in thin films technologies or metal deposition on 3D substrates, experts in polymer processing, micro-injection or additive manufacturing able to answer the specifications considering the small size of the 3D objects.
- Type and Size of Partner
- R&D Institution
- Big company
- SME 50 - 249
- University
- SME 11-49
- SME <=10
- Type of partnership
- Research and development cooperation agreement
- Commercial agreement with technical assistance
Dissemination
- Technology keywords
- 01001001 - Automation, Robotics Control Systems
- 02002015 - Surface treatment (painting, galvano, polishing, CVD, ..)
- Market keywords
- 08002004 - Robotics
- Sector Groups Involved
- Electronics
- Targeted countries
- All countries