Amphibious Miniature Soft Jumping Robot with On‐Demand In‐Flight Maneuver

Abstract

In nature, some semiaquatic arthropods evolve biomechanics for jumping on the water surface with the controlled burst of kinetic energy. Emulating these creatures, miniature jumping robots deployable on the water surface have been developed, but few of them achieve the controllability comparable to biological systems. The limited controllability and agility of miniature robots constrain their applications, especially in the biomedical field where dexterous and precise manipulation is required. Herein, an insect-scale magnetoelastic robot with improved controllability is designed. The robot can adaptively regulate its energy output to generate controllable jumping motion by tuning magnetic and elastic strain energy. Dynamic and kinematic models are developed to predict the jumping trajectories of the robot. On-demand actuation can thus be applied to precisely control the pose and motion of the robot during the flight phase. The robot is also capable of making adaptive amphibious locomotion and performing various tasks with integrated functional modules. IntroductionJumping ability emerged during biological evolution endows the creatures owning it with larger living space and faster movement for predation and escaping from predators. [1] The optimized muscle dynamics after natural selection results in the efficient

Hard magnetics and soft materials—a synergy

“…For instance, Lum et al [126] constructed a jellyfish-like robot, an undulating spermatozoa-like swimmer, and an artificial cilium that could match the beating patterns of their biological counterparts by developing a programming method. A soft magneto-elastic robot built of silicone (Ecoflex) Jumping [412,413] Hard particles are rapidly actuated by magnetic forces that enable jumping motion…”

A magnetic multi-layer soft robot for on-demand targeted adhesion

“…By applying external magnetic fields, the soft robots with tailored magnetization profiles can traverse complex terrains by altering locomotion modes, such as rolling 12 , 13 , crawling 12 , 14 , 15 , and swimming 12 , 16 . By designing an actuation method and optimizing energy bursting, the jumping motion of magnetic soft robots has also been achieved in unstructured aquatic-terrestrial environments 17 . Moreover, locomotion can be realized in unstructured three-dimensional environments by considering surface microstructures and surface coating of the robots, such as microspikes 18 , 19 and mucoadhesive film 20 loaded by magnetic soft robots.…”

Design and Experimentation of Tensegrity Jumping Robots

“…These robots can carry a variety of sensors and exploration equipment for surface and subsurface data acquisition and analysis. By jumping and moving, the robots are able to cover a wider area, collect more data, and improve the efficiency and accuracy of exploration [35].…”