Science Daily January 17, 2022
Combining materials which together resemble the natural process of bone development an international team of researchers (Sweden, Japan) constructed a microrobot which can assume different shapes and change stiffness. They started with a gel material called alginate. On one side of the gel, they grew an electroactive polymer which changes its volume when a low voltage is applied, causing the microrobot to bend in a specified direction. On the other side of the gel, they attached biomolecules, that are important for bone development which allowed the soft gel material to harden. They demonstrated that the material could wrap itself around chicken bones, and the artificial bone that subsequently develops grows together with the chicken bone. By making patterns in the gel, the microbot can be made to bend in desired ways when voltage is applied. The desired movements can be embedded in the material’s structure. This material could be used in complicated bone fractures, soft microrobots could be injected into the body to unfold and develop their own rigid bones…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
Actuation principle of PPy-Alg and PPy-Alg-PMNF actuators… Credit: Advanced materials, 07 December 2021Â