AccScience Publishing / ESAM / Volume 1 / Issue 4 / DOI: 10.36922/ESAM025410025
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

TwinPrint: A dual-arm robotic 3D bioprinting solution for multi-material biofabrication of soft matter constructs       

Noofa Hammad1 ,  Zainab N. Khan1 ,  Hibatallah Alwazani1,2 ,  Kowther Kahin1 ,  Dana M. Alhattab1,3 ,  Christian Baumgartner4 ,  Charlotte A. E. Hauser1,3,4*
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1 Laboratory for Nanomedicine, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Makkah Province, Saudi Arabia
2 Communication Theory Lab, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of British Columbia-Okanagan, Kelowna, BC, Canada
3 Computational Bioscience Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Makkah Province, Saudi Arabia
4 Institute of Health Care Engineering with European Testing Center of Medical Devices, Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), Graz, Styria, Austria
ESAM 2025, 1(4), 025410025 https://doi.org/10.36922/ESAM025410025
Received: 9 October 2025 | Revised: 13 November 2025 | Accepted: 21 November 2025 | Published online: 5 December 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

As the field of three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting gains increased momentum, complex 3D bioprinters are being developed to keep up with the needs of biofabrication and tissue engineering. Cartesian-based linear 3D bioprinters have facilitated the fabrication of 3D biological constructs and scaffolds. However, to achieve meaningful advancement in biofabrication, 3D bioprinters need increased freedom of motion, seamless multi-material printing, full automation, and ease of use. In this paper, we propose TwinPrint, a dual-arm robotic 3D bioprinting system, designed to be compatible with soft bioinks to build multi-material constructs, crucial for creating functional tissue. The uniquely integrated robotic 3D bioprinter—comprising an in-house fabricated coaxial nozzle, two 4-axis robotic arms, six microfluidic pumps, and a software interface—work harmoniously as a single unit. We showcase the development of the Python-based software and Graphical User Interface, integrating all components into a single easy-to-use interface. Due to their human-like and instantaneous gelation properties, peptide-based bioinks were used as printing material to test the system. Developed in our laboratory as an alternative to gelatin- and alginate-based bioinks, they avoided chemical and ultraviolet-crosslinking by solidifying instantaneously under physiological conditions. For system performance testing, acellular and cellular constructs were observed for structural fidelity, multi-material layering, printing accuracy, cell viability, and proliferation. Overall, our proposed system showcases an innovative integration of robotics for biofabrication to expedite the printing process and enable multi-task print protocols. By saving time, increasing degrees of freedom, and expanding printing complexity, we believe TwinPrint is a promising next step for biofabrication.

Graphical abstract
Keywords
3D bioprinting
Extrusion-based printing
Peptide bioinks
Multi-robot systems
Multi-material construct
Funding
This work was financially supported by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology under the base funding for Charlotte A. E. Hauser, under the KAUST-Smart Health Initiative project number: REI/1/4938. Additional funding was provided by Graz University of Technology (TU Graz).
Conflict of interest
Charlotte A. E. Hauser is an Editorial Board Member of this journal, but was not in any way involved in the editorial and peer-review process conducted for this paper, directly or indirectly. Separately, other authors declared that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced the work reported in this paper.
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Engineering Science in Additive Manufacturing, Electronic ISSN: 3082-849X Published by AccScience Publishing
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