Small-scale soft-bodied robot with multimodal locomotion

Abstract

Untethered small-scale (from several millimetres down to a few micrometres in all dimensions) robots that can non-invasively access confined, enclosed spaces may enable applications in microfactories such as the construction of tissue scaffolds by robotic assembly, in bioengineering such as single-cell manipulation and biosensing, and in healthcare such as targeted drug delivery and minimally invasive surgery. Existing small-scale robots, however, have very limited mobility because they are unable to negotiate obstacles and changes in texture or material in unstructured environments. Of these small-scale robots, soft robots have greater potential to realize high mobility via multimodal locomotion, because such machines have higher degrees of freedom than their rigid counterparts. Here we demonstrate magneto-elastic soft millimetre-scale robots that can swim inside and on the surface of liquids, climb liquid menisci, roll and walk on solid surfaces, jump over obstacles, and crawl within narrow tunnels. These robots can transit reversibly between different liquid and solid terrains, as well as switch between locomotive modes. They can additionally execute pick-and-place and cargo-release tasks. We also present theoretical models to explain how the robots move. Like the large-scale robots that can be used to study locomotion, these soft small-scale robots could be used to study soft-bodied locomotion produced by small organisms.

An Overview of Novel Actuators for Soft Robotics

“…However, it could be inferred from the current research that the most convenient scale for the functional robotic prototypes could be at the millimeter level [15,16,35]. In Reference [35], theoretical models for scaling is built and for the sheet-shaped robot, they report difficulty in creating robots that have h < 40 µ m and w < 0.3 mm. However, this inference from current literature should be taken with a caution as the soft E/MA is novel and still ripe for exploration on the scalability.…”

“…The example studies on E/MA function [15,16,35] does not openly discuss the optimal geometrical design of soft E/MA robotic structures. However, this is decided on use-case of the actuator.…”

Toward Perceptive Soft Robots: Progress and Challenges

“…In the last decade, soft robotics has been rising up as an emerging research topic,1 with some remarkable achievements such as: universal jamming gripper,2 multigait soft robot,3 worm robot,4 octopus robot,5 fully integrated soft octobot,6 growth robot,7 soft multilocomotion microrobot,8 and so on. Building on intrinsically soft materials or compliant mechanisms, soft robots are rapidly opening new possibilities for typical robotic tasks (e.g., grasping, dexterous manipulation, and locomotion), and also adding new robotic abilities that were unthinkable before,9 like morphing and self‐healing.…”

Bioinspired Soft Robotic Caterpillar with Cardiomyocyte Drivers

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] With their shape-morphing features, soft robots are more behavioral flexible and adaptable to execute specific tasks. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] With their shape-morphing features, soft robots are more behavioral flexible and adaptable to execute specific tasks.…”