Self-healing sensorized soft robots

An Interdisciplinary Tutorial: A Self-Healing Soft Finger with Embedded Sensor

“…The matrix (BMI1400-FT3000-r0.5) is used for the soft finger, while the carbon black filled conductive composite (DPBM-FT5000-r0.6 + 20 wt% CB260 + 1 wt% C15A) is used for the embedded sensor. Since both materials are based on the same Diels-Alder chemistry, they can form bonds between them to create a strong interface [ 12 ].…”

“…When preparing a conductive composite for resistive strain sensors, the highest sensitivity is expected for a composition just above this percolation threshold: when straining such a material, the resistivity of the conductive particle network is affected the most. Another advantage of working just above the percolation threshold, is to limit the influence of the fillers on the mechanical properties of the material, as adding carbon-based fillers also has a stiffening effect, lowering the polymer chain mobility and the self-healing capacity [ 12 ]. The amount of carbon black needed for percolation, depends on the type and shape of the carbon black particles.…”

“…This tutorial was a great motivation to improve the broad applicability of the Diels-Alder polymers. Whereas a crystalline maleimide (DPBM) was used for the composite and most of our previous work [ 6 , 12 ], liquid bismaleimide (BMI1400) is used for the neat polymer matrix discussed here. It enables an easier synthesis, just requiring mechanical stirring of the liquid components, and does not require the use of a solvent that needs to be extracted in a later step.…”

“…This greatly reduces the risk of delamination of the two parts, which is a common problem in soft robotics [ 11 ]. Moreover, strong interfaces can not only be formed between parts made out of the same self-healing material: When using different self-healing materials based on the same reversible chemistry, strong interfaces can also be achieved [ 12 ]. In this tutorial, this is illustrated at the interface between a self-healing sensor and the finger in which it is embedded.…”

Flexible strategy of epitaxial oxide thin films

“…Because of the tunable functionalities and rich oxide material selection, oxide thin films have been applied in various device demonstrations, such as resistive switching memory, gas sensor, Li-ion battery, optical applications, soft bioelectronics, wearable tactile sensors, soft robotics, etc. ( Acharya et al., 2016 ; Liu et al., 2015 , 2022a , 2022b ; Qi et al., 2018 ; Sando et al., 2018 ; Guo and Ding, 2021 ; Roels et al., 2022 ).…”