Electrospun Fields: 3D Nano-Fiber Material Computation as Design Method

Abstract

We present a robotic electrospinning platform and design method for depositing nanofiber membranes onto non-planar, three-dimensional conductive geometries. Conventional electrospinning relies on fixed emitters and planar grounded collectors, which restricts deposition to flat substrates: on concave geometries, field shielding prevents fibers from reaching recessed regions, and material bridges across elevated features instead. We address this with a custom end-effector integrated with a six-axis UR20 arm. The tool carries a localized stepper-driven syringe pump that maintains consistent polymer flow independent of orientation, and routes high-voltage DC (up to 25 kV) directly to a robot-mounted needle, turning the arm into a mobile emitter with full kinematic control over position, orientation, working distance, and traversal velocity. Toolpaths that continuously reorient the emitter along surface normals give access to concave topologies unreachable by fixed-axis systems. We characterize the resulting deposition behavior in two parts. A catalog of four bio-compatible polymer systems (PEO, PVA, keratin-PEO, silk-PEO) establishes the operating envelope, reporting deposition speed, jet stability, fiber size, alignment, and durability for each. A taxonomy of 3D-printed conductive scaffolds spanning geometric primitives, hybrid compositions, and square, triangular, and hexagonal lattices links collector geometry to fiber alignment, density, and cross-void bridging. We also demonstrate programmable grounding, in which selectively energized pins in an array steer deposition without changing physical geometry. Assembly instructions and toolpath-generation code are released as an open-source repository.