Dragonfly Inspired Smart Soft Robot

Abstract

Recent advancements in soft robotics have led to the development of compliant robots that can exhibit complex motions driven by living cells(1, 2), chemical reactions(3), or electronics(4). Further innovations are however needed to create the next generation of soft robots that can carry out advanced functions beyond locomotion. Here we describe DraBot-a dragonfly-inspired, entirely soft, multifunctional robot that combines longterm locomotion over water surface with sensing, responding, and adaptation capabilities. By integrating soft actuators, stimuli-responsive materials, and microarchitectural features, we created a circuitry of pneumatic and microfluidic logic that enabled the robot to undergo user-and environment-controlled (pH) locomotion, including navigating hazardous (acidic) conditions. DraBot was also engineered to sense additional environmental perturbations (temperature) and detect and clean up chemicals (oil). The design, fabrication, and integration strategies demonstrated here pave a way for developing futuristic soft robots that can acclimatize and adapt to harsh conditions while carrying out complex tasks such as exploration, environmental remediation, and health care in complex environments.

A review on the nonlinear dynamics of hyperelastic structures

“…Besides, soft robots made of hyperelastic materials have been used for sensing and monitoring environments. For example, a dragonfly-inspired soft robot (DraBot) has been fabricated for measuring the contaminants (such as the presence of oil), pH, and temperature of water surfaces [11][12][13].…”

Characterization of bending balloon actuators

“…). Ecoflex 00-30 Ogden parameters were obtained from our previous study (Kumar et al, 2021). These parameters were used for COMSOL simulation.…”

“…Upon inflation, the expansion of the balloon structure results in bending force. This bending force produces rapid movement, implementing many types of nature-inspired motions in soft-robotic devices such as those of octopus (Wehner et al, 2016), spider (Ranzani et al, 2018), dragonfly (Kumar et al, 2021), and human finger (Lu and Kim, 2003;Jeong et al, 2005;Kim and Cha, 2020). Various strategies can be used to vary the wall compliance such as changing the geometry, using different materials, or incorporating constraints such as inextensible fibers (fiberreinforced bending actuators) (Polygerinos et al, 2015).…”