Science Daily August 2, 2019
A team of researchers in the US (North Carolina State University, Elon University) has developed a technique that allows them to remotely control the movement of soft robots, lock them into position for as long as needed and later reconfigure the robots into new shapes. They used soft robots made of a polymer embedded with magnetic iron microparticles. Under normal conditions, the material is relatively stiff and holds its shape.
However, when the material is heated using light from an LED the polymer becomes pliable the shape of the robot can be changed by remotely applying a magnetic field. After forming the desired shape, if the LED light is removed the robot to resumes its original stiffness locking the shape in place. By applying the light a second time and removing the magnetic field, the robot to returns to its original shapes or can be given a new shape. In demonstrations they formed “grabbers” for lifting and transporting objects, cantilevers, and folded into “flowers” with petals that bend in different directions…read more. Open Access TECNICAL ARTICLE