Advanced Intelligent Systems
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2020
·Vol. 2
·期 3
·1900128
·
IF 0
Qianying Chen,Pengyu Lv,Tian-Yun Huang,Jianyong Huang,Huiling Duan
Usually, it is indispensable for traditional functional robots to use flexible joints that integrate sophisticated machinery and control systems to achieve precise operability and efficient mobility. At the microscale, however, the conventional design of functional joints is generally not suitable due to the limitation of the manufacturing process on such a tiny size. Herein, a strategy for the design of smart microjoints (SMJs) that undergo controllable active deformation by triggering a size-dependent layer-by-layer sequential swelling effect on SMJs in response to external stimuli is developed. The optimal encoding of SMJs that enables microcrawlers to achieve superior crawling speed (0.15 body length s −1 ) and efficiency (1.1 body length per step), as well as controllable locomotion, is demonstrated, e.g., migration along/against the stimuli source or along a preplanned path. A path toward constructing soft actuators/robots at the microscale with high adaptability and controllability for broad engineering applications is offered.
研究领域:
材料科学
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机器人学
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生物医学工程
✓ 已验证
DOI
Soft Matter
·
2019
·Vol. 15
·期 32
·6504-6517
·
IF 3.399
Caifen Lei,Qiang Li,Lu Yang,Fei Deng,Jianyao Li,Zihan Ye,Ying Wang,Zhenkun Zhang
Under external pressure compression, various kinds of artificial microcapsules can undergo buckling induced deformation and catastrophic rupturing failure, which needs to be understood for their diverse practical applications. For this, many theories and numerical simulations have recently emerged, leading to some intriguing but often debatable predictions and scaling laws. However, experimental testing of these predictions is very limited, due to challenges in realizing prescribed buckling pathways and in situ monitoring of the buckling procedure. Herein, we report the buckling behaviors of well-defined spherical polydopamine (PDA) capsules with tunable sizes and homogeneous nanoscale shells. Simple but controlled solvent evaporation was implemented inside a home-made optical chamber to induce buckling of PDA capsules by following a prescribed pathway toward targeted shapes that are only dictated by the inherent material properties of the capsules. In addition, the buckling speed was slowed down to the timescale of minutes, which can prevent buckling from being trapped at some metastable intermediate states as well as facilitating in situ optical monitoring of the whole buckling procedure in slow motion. In this way, several classic buckling behaviors were clearly observed, including the sudden appearance of spinodal-like dimples above critical pressures, transition of the indentation rim from the axisymmetric to polygonal shape, and evolution of multi-indented buckling into single indented buckling following Ostwald ripening. These observations are qualitatively comparable with recent predictions from numerical results. Furthermore, some novel buckling phenomena have been reported for the first time, which might stimulate further theories and numerical simulations.
研究领域:
材料科学
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力学
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纳米技术
✓ 已验证
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
Advanced Science
·
2022
·Vol. 9
·期 34
·2204730
·
IF 17.521
Pengyu Chen,Qiushi Ruan,Rasool Nasseri,Hanning Zhang,Xufeng Xi,Huan Xia,Gang Xu,Qian Xie,Chengjie Yi,ZhengMing Sun,Hamed Shahsavan,Wei Zhang
Hydrogel actuators have shown great promise in underwater robotic applications as they can generate controllable shape transformations upon stimulation due to their ability to absorb and release water reversibly. Herein, a photoresponsive anisotropic hydrogel actuator is developed from poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) and gold-decorated carbon nitride (Au/g-C 3 N 4 ) nanoparticles. Carbon nitride nanoparticles endow hydrogel actuators with photocatalytic properties, while their reorientation and mobility driven by the electrical field provide anisotropic properties to the surrounding network. A variety of light-fueled soft robotic functionalities including controllable and programmable shape-change, gripping, and locomotion is elicited. A responsive flower-like photocatalytic reactor is also fabricated, for water splitting, which maximizes its energy-harvesting efficiency, that is, hydrogen generation rate of 1061.82 µmol g −1 h −1 , and the apparent quantum yield of 8.55% at 400 nm, by facing its light-receiving area adaptively towards the light. The synergy between photoactive and photocatalytic properties of this hydrogel portrays a new perspective for the design of underwater robotic and photocatalytic devices.
研究领域:
材料科学
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光催化技术
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机器人学
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
Journal of Materials Chemistry C
·
2020
·Vol. 8
·期 35
·12092-12099
·
IF 7.059
Jian Liu,Weizhong Xu,Zhongwen Kuang,Pengli Dong,Youxing Yao,Huaping Wu,Aiping Liu,Fangmin Ye
Smart hydrogels play a vital role in fundamental research and industrial applications in the fields of biosensors, flexible devices and intelligent human–machine technologies; however, developing a simple, low-cost and large-scale method to obtain hydrogel actuators with rapid response and robust and steadily controllable motion remains a big challenge. In this work, a temperature-responsive, gradient structured hydrogel with quick bending and adjustable actuation was fabricated by the copolymerization of the N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) monomer with dispersed montmorillonite (MMT) via a facile precipitation method. The introduction of MMT with good thermal conductivity made the volume phase transition of the PNIPAM-based hydrogel occur earlier, and the deformation degree and bending direction could be adjusted by changing the MMT content. The representative composite hydrogel with 0.2 g MMT in the precursor presented bidirectional bending characteristics with a bending amplitude of about 289° and an average bending speed of about 36.0° s−1, while the composite hydrogel with 0.3 g MMT in the precursor only possessed a unidirectional bending ability with a bending amplitude of about −259° and a bending velocity of about −28.8° s−1 due to the great difference in the shrinking capacity between the top and bottom sides of the composite hydrogel. In addition, flexibly controllable deformation was specially realized by a well-designed patterned hydrogel with a local component and a thickness difference. Our work provides a practical method for the ingenious design of a hydrogel for further development of programmable and versatile hydrogel-based smart actuators and soft robots.
研究领域:
材料科学
·
生物医学工程
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软体机器人
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智能材料
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
高影响因子
Science Robotics
·
2021
·Vol. 6
·期 53
·
IF 23.956
Shuo Zhang,Xingxing Ke,Qin Jiang,Han Ding,Zhigang Wu
Tunable, soft, and multifunctional robots are contributing to developments in medical and rehabilitative robotics, human-machine interaction, and intelligent home technology. A key aspect of soft robot fabrication is the ability to use flexible and efficient schemes to enable the seamless and simultaneous integration of configurable structures. Here, we report a strategy for programming design features and functions in elastomeric surfaces. We selectively modified these elastomeric surfaces via laser scanning and then penetrated them with an active particle–infused solvent to enable controllable deformation, folding, and functionality integration. The functionality of the elastomers can be erased by a solvent retreatment and reprocessed by repeating the active particle infusion process. We established a platform technique for fabricating programmable and reprocessable elastomeric sheets by varying detailed morphology patterns and active particles. We used this technique to produce functional soft ferromagnetic origami robots with seamlessly integrated structures and various active functions, such as robots that mimic flowers with petals bent at different angles and with different curvatures, low-friction swimming robots, multimode locomotion carriers with gradient-stiffness claws for protecting and delivering objects, and frog-like robots with adaptive switchable coloration that responds to external thermal and optical stimuli.
研究领域:
软体机器人
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材料科学
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机械工程
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生物医学工程
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人机交互
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智能家庭技术
✓ 已验证
产品关联
DOI
PubMed
高影响因子
危险品化学品经营许可证（带存储）