Programmable Transformation and Controllable Locomotion of Magnetoactive Soft Materials with 3D-Patterned Magnetization

Abstract

Magnetoactive soft material (MASM) is distinguished for multifunctional shape manipulations under magnetic actuation, thereby holding a great promise in soft robotics, actuators, electronics, and metamaterials. However, the current research of MASM with continuum hard-magnetic profiles focuses little on the transformation mechanism, high dimensional shape transformation, and multistable locomotion. Herein, we developed a systematic methodology for programmable transformation and controllable locomotion of MASM with 3D-patterned continuum magnetization. An iterative computational model based on the equilibrium between magnetic torque and deformation-induced elastic torque was developed for precise prediction of MASM transformation. Multidimensional and complex shape manipulation ability of MASM was demonstrated by magnetically actuated transformations, including 1D to 2D, 2D to 3D, and 3D to 4D transformations of solid MASM, 2D to 3D pattern transformation of MASM-based elastin-like mesh, and 3D to 4D transformation of MASM-based cuboidal lattice. Multistable and controllable locomotion of MASM was verified by multimodal locomotion behaviors of a scallop-inspired robot for wall climbing in a dry frame and drug delivery in wet stomach, including roll, open, and close under self-locked and unlocked states.

Magnetorheological Elastomer‐Based Materials and Devices: State of the Art and Future Perspectives

“…The most novel applications in programmable soft matter have taken advantage of the possibility of programming magnetic domains to achieve outstanding shapes, such as walking and swimming robots, [ 3,113 ] animal‐like shapes, [ 114 ] and even more complex geometries. [ 115,116 ]…”

Smart Adhesives via Magnetic Actuation

“…[ 36,37 ] Such a novel composite material enjoys desired tunable properties, including fast actuation, programmable transition, and reversible manipulation. [ 31,32,34,35,38–48 ] Its wide applications have been reported including soft robots, self‐assembled structures, and biomedical devices. [ 39,43,48 ] For example, ferromagnetic soft robots under an external magnetic field are capable of active steering and navigation in a remote‐controllable manner, as evidenced in recent reports.…”

A theory of magneto-elastic nanorods obtained through rigorous dimension reduction

“…These functionalities are particularly appealing when the overall dimensions of the actuators are at the millimeter scale, or even smaller, since at those scales, magnetic fields can be specified not only in magnitude, but also in direction and spatial gradients, enlarging the class of achievable shapes [27]. Over the past decades, many applications have been proposed to exploit MREs as gripping tools [40], manipulators [39], micro-swimmers [24,5] or in biomimetic applications [19,21].…”