Graphene‐Based Light‐Driven Soft Robot with Snake‐Inspired Concertina and Serpentine Locomotion

Yang, Yuanyuan; Zhang, Mei; Li, Dengfeng; Shen, Yajing

doi:10.1002/admt.201800366

Cited by 42 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Although shape-morphing has become a commonplace for biomimicking microrobots, functional and intelligent embedding still remain a grand challenge to equip such small robots with multiple sensors and actuators that respond to external applied localized fields 5 , 6 . A variety of chemical 7 , 8 , physical 9 – 12 , and field 13 – 15 stimuli have been successfully used to control morphology changes for locomotion or object manipulation using soft materials. However, because of the difficulty in localization of an external field, current designs are typically based on heterogeneous architectures 16 – 19 and/or materials 20 – 24 for implementing programmable pattern generation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ionic shape-morphing microrobotic end-effectors for environmentally adaptive targeting, releasing, and sampling

et al. 2021

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Shape-morphing uses a single actuation source for complex-task-oriented multiple patterns generation, showing a more promising way than reconfiguration, especially for microrobots, where multiple actuators are typically hardly available. Environmental stimuli can induce additional causes of shape transformation to compensate the insufficient space for actuators and sensors, which enriches the shape-morphing and thereby enhances the function and intelligence as well. Here, making use of the ionic sensitivity of alginate hydrogel microstructures, we present a shape-morphing strategy for microrobotic end-effectors made from them to adapt to different physiochemical environments. Pre-programmed hydrogel crosslinks were embedded in different patterns within the alginate microstructures in an electric field using different electrode configurations. These microstructures were designed for accomplishing tasks such as targeting, releasing and sampling under the control of a magnetic field and environmental ionic stimuli. In addition to structural flexibility and environmental ion sensitivity, these end-effectors are also characterized by their complete biodegradability and versatile actuation modes. The latter includes global locomotion of the whole end-effector by self-trapping magnetic microspheres as a hitch-hiker and the local opening and closing of the jaws using encapsulated nanoparticles based on local ionic density or pH values. The versatility was demonstrated experimentally in both in vitro environments and ex vivo in a gastrointestinal tract. Global locomotion was programmable and the local opening and closing was achieved by changing the ionic density or pH values. This ‘structural intelligence’ will enable strategies for shape-morphing and functionalization, which have attracted growing interest for applications in minimally invasive medicine, soft robotics, and smart materials.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ionic shape-morphing microrobotic end-effectors for environmentally adaptive targeting, releasing, and sampling

et al. 2021

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“…In addition, some researchers were inspired by snakes. The snake's mode of locomotion inspired the design of several soft medical robots for MIS …”

Section: Bionics In Soft Medical Robotsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of recent advancements in soft and flexible robots for medical applications

Zhang

2020

Robotics Computer Surgery

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Background: Soft and flexible robots for medical applications are needed to change their flexibility over a wide range to perform tasks adequately. The mechanism and theory of flexibility has been a scientific issue and is of interest to the community. Methods: Recent advancements of bionics, flexible actuation, sensing, and intelligent control algorithms as well as tunable stiffness have been referenced when soft and flexible robots are developed. The benefits and limitations of these relevant studies and how they affect the flexibility are discussed, and possible research directions are explored. Results: The bionic materials and structures that demonstrate the potential capabilities of the soft medical robot flexibility are the fundamental guarantee for clinical medical applications. Flexible actuation that used to provide power, intelligent control algorithms which are the exact executors, and the wide range stiffness of the soft materials are the three important influence factors for soft medical robots. Conclusion: Some reasonable suggestions and possible solutions for soft and flexible medical robots are proposed, including novel materials, flexible actuation concepts with a built-in source of energy or power, programmable flexibility, and adjustable stiffness. K E Y W O R D S bionics, flexible actuation, sensing and intelligent control algorithm, soft and flexible robots, tunable stiffness 1 | INTRODUCTION The application of robots in the medical field dates back to a few decades ago, but the recent use of soft materials in medical robots has enabled new capabilities that create possibilities for medical treatments in which much safer human-robot interaction is preferred. 1-3 Soft medical robots are defined as soft and flexible electro-mechanical systems with high flexibility performing medical applications. Soft medical robots are multidisciplinary emerging technologies 4 such as materials science, bionics, mechanics, electronics, and computer science. At present, soft medical robots have been used for surgery, 5diagnosis, 6 rehabilitation, 7 prostheses, 8 artificial organs, 9 drug delivery 10 and many other medical applications. [11][12][13][14][15][16] The movements such as bending, torsion, extension, and contact operations 17 required high flexibility and deformability 18 of soft medical robots.Soft medical robots exhibit a range of degrees of flexibility during medical applications. In this paper, flexibility is used to describe the characteristics of soft medical robots that have a proper combination of stiffness and compliance and it is on the scientific level. Actually, flexibility reflects in three aspects: the variety of shape, the wide range of stiffness, and the adequate force applied. It is necessary for soft medical robots that it can change their flexibility degree over a wide range to perform tasks adequately. For example, there has certainly been a longterm demand in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) applications for soft medical robots that can move, deform, navigate narrow gaps, and int...

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“…The light is untethered and can be controlled from an exterior side of the systems. Along with this optical advantage, photo-to-thermal responsive multi-functional soft robots have been extensively developed [41,[65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73]. For example, Cheng et al developed a rectangular-shaped graphene oxide (GO) film walker in response to an infrared (IR) light on/off process ( Figure 5C) [65].…”

Section: Hybrid Soft Actuatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in Stimuli-Responsive Soft Robots with Integrated Hybrid Materials

Son

Yoon

2020

Actuators

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Hybrid stimuli-responsive soft robots have been extensively developed by incorporating multi-functional materials, such as carbon-based nanoparticles, nanowires, low-dimensional materials, and liquid crystals. In addition to the general functions of conventional soft robots, hybrid stimuli-responsive soft robots have displayed significantly advanced multi-mechanical, electrical, or/and optical properties accompanied with smart shape transformation in response to external stimuli, such as heat, light, and even biomaterials. This review surveys the current enhanced scientific methods to synthesize the integration of multi-functional materials within stimuli-responsive soft robots. Furthermore, this review focuses on the applications of hybrid stimuli-responsive soft robots in the forms of actuators and sensors that display multi-responsive and highly sensitive properties. Finally, it highlights the current challenges of stimuli-responsive soft robots and suggests perspectives on future directions for achieving intelligent hybrid stimuli-responsive soft robots applicable in real environments.

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Graphene‐Based Light‐Driven Soft Robot with Snake‐Inspired Concertina and Serpentine Locomotion

Cited by 42 publications

References 41 publications

Ionic shape-morphing microrobotic end-effectors for environmentally adaptive targeting, releasing, and sampling

Ionic shape-morphing microrobotic end-effectors for environmentally adaptive targeting, releasing, and sampling

A review of recent advancements in soft and flexible robots for medical applications

Advances in Stimuli-Responsive Soft Robots with Integrated Hybrid Materials

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