Science Daily October 23, 2023 Introducing anisotropic properties, and shape-change programmability to responsive hydrogels promises a host of opportunities in the development of soft robots. An international team of researchers (Canada, Germany) synthesized pH-responsive hydrogel nanocomposites with predetermined microstructural anisotropy, shape-transformation, and self-healing. They were largely composed of zwitterionic monomers and asymmetric cellulose nanocrystals. While the zwitterionic nature of the network imparted both self-healing and cytocompatibility to the hydrogel nanocomposites, the shear-induced alignment of cellulose nanocrystals rendered their anisotropic swelling and mechanical properties. They utilized a cut-and-paste approach to program reversible, and complex deformation into the hydrogels. As a proof-of-concept, […]
Tag Archives: Soft robots
Discovering nanomachines within living organisms: Cytochromes P450 unleashed as living soft robots
Phys.org August 7, 2023 An international team of researchers (Israel, India) addressed the difference between regular 3D matter and the nanomachines in ‘living matters’ (e.g., the CYP450 enzymes), which oxidize an array of essential substrate molecules. Molecular dynamics simulations revealed that, unlike 3D materials, CYP450s are 4D nanomachines, in which the fourth dimension was a sensing mechanism whereby the protein responds to an initial stimulus of substrate entrance and performs an autonomous chain of events (the catalytic cycle), which leads to substrate oxidation. They found that stimulus was the binding of a substrate molecule that eventually underwent oxidation in a […]
Soft robot detects damage, heals itself
Science Daily December 7, 2022 Researchers at Cornell University have introduced damage intelligent soft-bodied systems via a network of self-healing light guides for dynamic sensing (SHeaLDS). Exploiting the intrinsic damage resilience of light propagation in an optical waveguide, in combination with a tough, transparent, and autonomously self-healing polyurethane urea elastomer, SHeaLDS enabled damage resilient and intelligent robots by self-healing cuts as well as detecting this damage and controlling the robot’s actions accordingly. With optimized material and structural design for hyperelastic deformation of the robot and autonomous self-healing capacity, SHeaLDS provided reliable dynamic sensing at large strains with no drift or […]
Tiny electrical vortexes bridge gap between ferroelectric and ferromagnetic materials
EurekAlert February 9, 2022 An international team of researchers (UK, Ireland, USA – Argonne National Laboratory) created a thin film of the ferroelectric lead titanate sandwiched between layers of the ferromagnet strontium ruthenate, each about 4 nanometres thick. The structure of the combined layers revealed that the domains in the lead titanate were a complex topological structure of lines of vortexes, spinning alternately in different directions. Almost identical behaviour has also been seen in ferromagnets where it is known to be generated by the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction (DMi). According to the researchers the difference between ferromagnetism and ferroelectricity becomes less and […]
Electrohydraulic arachno-bot a fascinating lightweight
EurekAlert June 16, 2021 Researchers at the University of Colorado exploited the principles of spiders’ joints to drive articulated robots without any bulky components and connectors. The Electrohydraulic Soft-actuated joints (SES) joints comprised of both rigid and softer elements can be used in many different configurations. The joints use electrostatic forces to locally pressurize a hydraulic fluid, and cause flexion of a segmented structure. SES joints with rotation angles up to 70° blocked torques up to 70 mN m, and specific torques up to 21 N m kg−1 have been demonstrated. SES joints demonstrated high speed operation, with measured roll-off […]
Researchers create fly-catching robots
TechXplore September 28, 2020 An international team of researchers (Austria, Germany) has created a soft robot and demonstrated a series of simulation-guided lightweight, durable, untethered, small-scale soft-bodied robots that perform large-degree deformations at high frequencies up to 100 Hz. They are driven at very low magnetic fields down to 0.5 mT and exhibit a specific energy density of 10.8 kJ m−3 mT−1. They observed asynchronous strongly nonlinear cross-clapping behavior of the robots in experiments and analyzed by simulation, breaking ground for future designs of soft-bodied robots. The robots walk, swim, levitate, transport cargo, squeeze into a vessel smaller than their dimensions and can […]
New stretchable, self-healing and illuminating electronic material for wearables and soft robots
Nanowerk May 30, 2020 Intrinsically stretchable optoelectronic devices such as light-emitting capacitors usually require high driving alternating voltages and excitation frequencies to achieve sufficient luminance in ambient lighting conditions. To lower the electronic operating conditions an international team of researchers (Singapore, USA – Cornell University) developed a material made up of unique blend of fluoroelastomer and surfactant. It has very high dielectric permittivity and self-healing properties, transparent, and elastic. A healable, low-field illuminating optoelectronic stretchable (HELIOS) device can turn on at voltages that are four times lower and achieve illumination that is more than 20 times brighter. Due to the […]
Technique uses magnets, light to control and reconfigure soft robots
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 […]