Reprogrammable Untethered Actuator for Soft Bio‐Inspired Robots

Abstract

The use of active materials for the actuators in soft robots allows for safe interactions and adaptable locomotion. However, stimulating the behavior of soft robots as well as reprogramming them and implementing reversible control in them remains a challenge. Herein, a method for fabricating soft, bio‐inspired, untethered, infrared‐driven actuators that exhibit reversible and reprogrammable behaviors is proposed. By exploiting the mismatch in the infrared‐driven thermomechanical responses of the two active materials constituting the bilayered soft actuator, reversible actuation can be realized. More importantly, the shape of robots based on this actuator can be reprogrammed such that they exhibit bio‐inspired locomotion specific to the environment. For instance, a soft robot based on the actuator can be made to exhibit several bio‐inspired functions, such as crawling, rolling, and object manipulation, in a complex environment. Furthermore, reversible and reprogrammable actuation can be achieved in untethered soft bio‐inspired robots using the bilayer of infrared‐actuated thermoresponsive materials, suggesting that other materials with similar properties can also be adopted in a similar method. The proposed method allows for the integration of different active materials toward the realization of infrared‐driven, untethered reversible, and reprogrammable actuators for soft bio‐inspired robots.

Customizable single-layer hydrogel robot with programmable NIR-triggered responsiveness

“…S7 †), we conducted biocompatibility tests which demonstrated that the hydrogel robot has good biocompatibility. Compared to previous work, 62 this paper presents advancements in the manufacturing technology of soft robots, enabling the reversible and programmable functionality of a single-layer hydrogel robot. Besides, if combined with flexible sensing, 63 multi-physical cooperative driving, 64,65 and therapeutic capabilities, 66,67 the single-layer hydrogel robot could realize the integration of diagnosis and treatment and environmental monitoring in the biomedical field.…”

Fabrication, control, and modeling of robots inspired by flagella and cilia

“…This material and the optical mechanism are also potential prospects for flagellated and ciliary soft robots. Another infrared-actuated bilayer robot was developed by Yang et al [92]. They used polylactic acid and carbon nanotubes as the infrared-responsive layer, and polyethylene terephthalate was used as a transparent layer.…”

Flagellum‐Inspired Soft Rotary Motor

“…Over the past decade, substantial efforts have been made in the development of soft robots, which exhibit conformable complex motions that ensure safe interactions between humans and robots. [1][2][3][4] By employing various actuation methods, [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] soft robots are able to perform a variety of bioinspired deformations, [4,[12][13][14] ranging from bending, [15][16][17][18] contraction, [19][20][21] to elongation. [22][23][24] However, despite these advances, rotation remains a persistent challenge in soft robots.…”