Recent work in the growing field of soft robotics has demonstrated a number of very promising technologies. However, to make a significant impact in real-world applications, these new technologies must first transition out of the laboratory through successful commercialization. Commercialization is perhaps the most critical future milestone facing the field of soft robotics today, and this process will reveal whether the apparent impact we now perceive has been appropriately estimated. Since 2012, Empire Robotics has been one of the first companies to attempt to reach this milestone through our efforts to commercialize jamming-based robotic gripper technology in a product called VERSABALL Ò . However, in spring 2016 we are closing our doors, having not been able to develop a sustainable business around this technology. This article presents some of the key takeaways from the technical side of the commercialization process and lessons learned that may be valuable to others. We hope that sharing this information will provide a frame of reference for technology commercialization that can help others motivate research directions and maximize research impact.

Gels and other soft elastic networks are a ubiquitous and important class of materials whose unique properties enable special behavior, but generally elude characterization due to the inherent difficulty in manipulating them. An example of such behavior is the stability of gels to large local deformations on their surface. This paper analyzes puncture of model soft materials with particular focus on the force response to deep indentation and the critical load for material failure. Large-strain behavior during deep indentation is described with a neo-hookean contact model. A fracture process zone model is applied to the critical load for puncture. It is found that the indenter geometry influences the size of the fracture process zone, resulting in two distinct failure regimes: stress-limited and energy-limited. The methods outlined in this paper provide a simple means for measuring Young's modulus, E, as well as the material's maximum cohesive stress, σ0, fracture energy, Γ0, and the intrinsic length scale linking the two, l0, all without requiring specialized sample preparation.

The cavitation rheology technique extracts soft materials mechanical properties through pressure-monitored fluid injection. Properties are calculated from the system's response at a critical pressure that is governed by either elasticity or fracture (or both); however previous elementary analysis has not been capable of accurately determining which mechanism is dominant. We combine analyses of both mechanisms in order to determine how the full system thermodynamics, including far-field compliance, dictate whether a bubble in an elastomeric solid will grow through either reversible or irreversible deformations. Applying these analyses to experimental data, we demonstrate the sensitivity of cavitation rheology to microstructural variation via a co-dependence between modulus and fracture energy.

Cavitation rheology is a recently developed measurement method for studying the mechanical properties of polymer gels from sub-micron to millimeter length scales at arbitrary locations within the network material. Current knowledge has focused on understanding the relationship between materials properties, such as modulus or fracture strength, and the maximum pressure for initiating cavitation. After the maximum pressure is reached, the growth of the bubble and the associated pressure drop is sudden and uncontrolled. We develop methods to control the growth of the bubble and to understand the relationship between cavity growth, pressure drop, and the material properties of the surrounding polymer network. We conduct these measurements on swollen networks of a triblock copolymer of poly(methyl methacrylate)-poly(n-butyl acrylate)-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA-PnBA-PMMA).

There are certain aspects of the electronic and packing behavior of planar aromatic molecules containing exocyclic chalcogen atoms (i.e., sulfur, selenium, tellurium) which need considerable re-enlightenment. This class of semiconductors was once regarded as next-generation p-donors for applications in charge-transfer complexes. With the advent of new device technologies such as lightemitting diodes, solar cells, and organic transistors, the interest in charge-transfer complexes eventually tapered off. However, significant progress in the use of this class of materials in modern organic devices has been reported over the last five years. In this article, we review the exocyclic arenes with chalcogen atoms in peri-positions, summarize synthetic routes to these compounds and take a close look at their basic properties. Particular emphasis is placed upon their packing arrangements and the effect of exocyclic chalcogen atoms on the crystal packing motifs. Selected example applications from this class of materials in different fields will be highlighted. As a final note, we provide a prediction for their use in mainstream applications such as energy and fundamental charge transport/generation.