Stretchable origami robotic arm with omnidirectional bending and twisting

Abstract

Inspired by the embodied intelligence observed in octopus arms, we introduce magnetically controlled origami robotic arms based on Kresling patterns for multimodal deformations, including stretching, folding, omnidirectional bending, and twisting. The highly integrated motion of the robotic arms is attributed to inherent features of the reconfigurable Kresling unit, whose controllable bistable deploying/folding and omnidirectional bending are achieved through precise magnetic actuation. We investigate single- and multiple-unit robotic systems, the latter exhibiting higher biomimetic resemblance to octopus’ arms. We start from the single Kresling unit to delineate the working mechanism of the magnetic actuation for deploying/folding and bending. The two-unit Kresling assembly demonstrates the basic integrated motion that combines omnidirectional bending with deploying. The four-unit Kresling assembly constitutes a robotic arm with a larger omnidirectional bending angle and stretchability. With the foundation of the basic integrated motion, scalability of Kresling assemblies is demonstrated through distributed magnetic actuation of double-digit number of units, which enables robotic arms with sophisticated motions, such as continuous stretching and contracting, reconfigurable bending, and multiaxis twisting. Such complex motions allow for functions mimicking octopus arms that grasp and manipulate objects. The Kresling robotic arm with noncontact actuation provides a distinctive mechanism for applications that require synergistic robotic motions for navigation, sensing, and interaction with objects in environments with limited or constrained access. Based on small-scale Kresling robotic arms, miniaturized medical devices, such as tubes and catheters, can be developed in conjunction with endoscopy, intubation, and catheterization procedures using functionalities of object manipulation and motion under remote control.

A Shift from Efficiency to Adaptability: Recent Progress in Biomimetic Interactive Soft Robotics in Wet Environments

“…Inspired by nature, patterning different smart materials of distinctive mechanical properties on a single planar sheet can create complex 3D objects by origami folding. [ 27 ] This “fabricating 2D and folding into 3D” approach facilitates fast and efficient prototyping and product iteration ( Figure 3 a ). SMA, shape memory polymers, and stimuli‐responsive polymers are often used for origami self‐folding.…”

“…[ 34 ] It typically needs external stimuli, such as water, [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ] pH, [ 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 ] heat, [ 47 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 ] light, [ 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 ] electricity, [ 53 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 ] and magnetic field to perform. [ 27 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 ] In recent years, soft actuators can be classified based on materials as elastomeric pneumatic actuator (PA), hydrogel actuator (HA), bio‐hybrid actuator (BHA), actuators made of DE, twisted and coiled yarns (TCY), SMA, liquid crystal elastomers (LCE), and ionic polymer‐metal composites (IPMC). [ 76 ] Extensive efforts in design and fabrication are dedicated to improving the performance of artificial mu...…”

Light‐Induced Topological Patterning toward 3D Shape‐Reconfigurable Origami

“…Shape-reconfigurable materials that significantly change their structure and size can potentially impact modern engineering applications, such as mechanical memory devices, [1][2][3] mechanical metamaterials, [4][5][6] bio-inspired robotics, [7][8][9] microelectronic plasticity-induced deformation contributes to a permanent origami deployment. [28,29] Despite this plasticity allowing manipulating plastically to form a drastically different origami structures, it is largely inapplicable for intrinsically guiding deformation in complex 3D origami without mold.…”

“…[14,15] An origami pattern consists of foldable and non-foldable creases with an anisotropic deformability that enables shape guiding and functionalities without molding. [7,16,17] This is fully compatible with shapereconfigurable materials because it incorporates the benefits of 2D simplicity, high throughput, and space conservation. It also provides a guided folding mechanism for shape reconfiguration.…”

Evolving from Laboratory Toys towards Life-Savers: Small-Scale Magnetic Robotic Systems with Medical Imaging Modalities

“…Small-scale magnetic robotics emerged as an interdisciplinary research field several decades ago and quickly gained momentum in advancement [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Magnetic field excels other control approaches due to its abilities of simultaneously generating both forces and torques on remote objects while safely penetrating biological substances.…”