Micro-) robots are globally ubiquitous. [1] Capable of working under extreme, human-adverse conditions, robots have extended the potential of industry to unprecedented heights. Robots can be used to perform heavy or repetitive tasks, such as shifting components between production lines. Yet, robots can also be tailored for delicate applications, such as surgery or prosthetics. [2] Within these robotic applications, pick-and-place operations to precisely transport objects are common and essential functions. Typical robotic arm designs are inspired by the human arm, consisting of a hard metal frame with multiple protruding "fingers" and joints. [3][4][5] Recently, soft materials, such as silicone, have been applied in robotic arms to enhance their adaptability to various environments. [6][7][8] Typically, these systems are operated with controlled air pressure and are easy to fabricate [9][10][11] but require external valves, tubes, and bulky motors. Meanwhile, robotic motions such as contracting, [12,13] bending, [14][15][16] and rolling [17] functions have been demonstrated by stimuli-responsive materials. However, unlike natural systems, stateof-the-art stimuli-responsive material actuators are typically designed for a single function, which renders them unable to perform multifactored tasks.Therefore, in this work, we developed and designed a soft robotic arm capable of multifactored pick-and-place operations, incorporating the function of the stimuli-responsive material rotating base, lifting unit, and suction cup-based gripper (Figure 1a). The soft robotic arm can operate within 3D space, without the need for integration with any external motor. Each actuator in the soft robotic arm can be individually controlled via electrical signals, enabling
Pick‐and‐place operations for transporting objects precisely to a target position are a prominent function of (soft‐) robotic systems. Therefore, there is great interest in industry to improve the characteristic gripping, holding, and releasing methods involved in pick‐and‐place operations. Within living organisms such as octopi, nature demonstrates that multiple types of conjointly working actuators are required for flexible pick‐and‐place operations. Herein, a multifunctional soft robotic arm is developed, capable of transporting an object within 3D space. The soft robotic arm consists of two structural actuators (rotating base and lifting unit) and a suction cup‐based gripper. The structural actuator acts as both the load bearing and actuating components of the robotic system. Yet, the gripper is the crucial innovation within the robotic arm. A cephalopod‐limb‐inspired gripper functioning through the reversible flat‐to‐conical deformation of azimuthally aligned liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) films is proposed. The pressure‐generating actuation mechanism of the gripper means that no external device is needed to operate the gripping function. Akin to natural systems, the in‐tandem operation of the actuators in the soft robotic arm allows for multifactored tasks. Yet, the design achieves this through the use of a single material, which is not innate in natural archetypes.
Self-regulation is an essential aspect in the practicality of electronic systems, ranging from household heaters to robots for industrial manufacturing. In such devices, self-regulation is conventionally achieved through separate sensors...
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