A programmable powerful and ultra-fast water-driven soft actuator inspired by the mutable collagenous tissue of the sea cucumber

Abstract

Sea-cucumber evolve to bear mutable collagenous tissue (MCT) which enables the change of its elastic modulus by a factor of 10 within a few seconds by controlling the release amount...

Rapid-Responsive Hydrogel Actuators with Hierarchical Structures: Strategies and Applications

“…In addition, not all the rapid-responsive hydrogel actuators depend on fast diffusion of water molecules; taking advantage of quick energy release and electrostatic repulsions, rapid actuating performance can also be achieved. In this review, we focus on rapid-responsive hydrogel actuators with special internal structures, and their actuating time can be as short as 10 s or even 0.1 s. ,− …”

“…Grippers are one of the most investigated applications of hydrogel actuators, and the hydrogel actuators are normally fabricated into claw-shaped structures, which can display grasping or releasing states upon certain external stimulus. ,, With enhanced response rate, grippers derived from rapid-responsive hydrogel actuators can quickly finish the capturing action. Taking advantage of 3D printing, Wu and co-workers have prepared a four-arm gripper with P­(AAc- co -AAm) as the passive layer and P­(AAc- co -NIPAm) as the active layer, and the gripper can grasp a plastic ball in saline solution within 60 s and release it in pure water within 90 s (Figure a) .…”

Starfish‐Inspired Cut‐Resistant Hydrogel with Self‐Growing Armor: Where Softness Meets Toughness

“…Many animals in nature have soft bodies that allow for flexible movement. [1][2][3] Inspired by these soft animals, many hydrogel actuators, [4][5][6][7] sensors, [8][9][10][11][12] and soft robots, [13][14][15][16] have been developed. However, most soft animals and hydrogels are prone to crack and fail under high stress, especially when cut or punctured by sharp objects.…”

Anti-freezing, conductive and shape memory ionic glycerol-hydrogels with synchronous sensing and actuating properties for soft robotics

“…1,2 Compared to robots with rigidly connected materials, so robots do not require related joints and can perform continuous deformability to mimic biological complex motions, which have potential application prospects in articial muscles, 3,4 military services, 5,6 smart health care, [7][8][9] and surgical instruments. 10,11 Optimal so robots should be composed of advanced sensors and smart actuators. The sensors can perceive external stimuli and transmit electrical information such as the stress distribution of the actuator, ambient temperature, ambient humidity, etc.…”