当霍德·利普森（Hod Lipson）与3DPI谈论3D打印机器人的可能性时，可以从印刷床中走出来时，麻省理工学院（MIT）通过一步一步将功能正常的机器人打印出来。也许比这一惊人的壮举更独特的是，这是通过一台通过3D打印固体和液体材料的印刷来完成的。
In a recent paper，，，，the team from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory detail their work to 3D print a small, six-legged robot that uses hydraulic pumps to move. CSAIL Director Daniela Rus, co-author on the paper,explains to麻省理工学院新闻，“我们称为'可打印液压'的方法是迈向快速制造功能机器的一步。您所要做的就是粘在电池和电动机中，并且您有一个机器人，几乎可以从打印机上走出来。”
使机器人移动的关键是3D打印体内12个液压泵。为此，团队转向Stratasys objet260连接系统，能够在单个构建中使用多种材料进行3D打印。依靠机器的UV反应树脂和非固定液体清洁剂，该团队能够钻机机器以3D打印湿润的零件，以便可以填充液体材料。合着者和MIT博士后Robert MacCurdy说：“喷墨打印使我们有八个不同的印刷头沉积了彼此相邻的不同材料。它为我们提供了对材料放置的非常好的控制，这使我们能够打印复杂的，预填充的流体通道。”
After 22 hours of printing, the resulting hexapod is just 1.5 pound in weight and six inches long. Though not 3D printed, a DC motor and battery were inserted into the completed robot upon completion. The motor turns a crankshaft, which directs fluid into the bot’s legs. Bellows built into the hexapod translates fluid pressure into mechanical force to drive it forward. Further demonstrating the possibilities of the design, the team 3D printed a silicone hand with hyrdaulic fingers.
MacCurdy adds that the template for these projects can be expanded for new designs, hoping for a future in which necessary robots can be 3D printed on-demand for specific scenarios, such as disaster relief at nuclear sites. He says, “If you have a crawling robot that you want to have step over something larger, you can tweak the design in a matter of minutes. In the future, the system will hardly need any human input at all; you can just press a few buttons, and it will automatically make the changes.”
霍德·利普森（Hod Lipson）实际上将自己对该项目的想法传达给麻省理工学院新闻，，，，saying，，，，“The CSAIL team has taken multi-material printing to the next level by printing not just a combination of different polymers or a mixture of metals, but essentially a self-contained working hydraulic system. It’s an important step towards the next big phase of 3-D printing — moving from printing passive parts to printing active integrated systems.”
该过程的局限性在许多方面都链接到打印过程。尽管本文描述了与SLA打印机等其他机器进行类似研究的能力，但喷墨3D打印被视为打印此类多材料设计的最佳方法。然而，随着技术的改进，整个过程也将随之而来。
