Affiliation:
1. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Synthesis and Functionalization Department of Polymer Science and Engineering Zhejiang University Hangzhou 310058 China
2. Department of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering Southern University of Science and Technology Shenzhen 518055 China
3. Bavarian Polymer Institute and Department of Chemistry University of Bayreuth Universitätsstrasse 30 95440 Bayreuth Germany
Abstract
AbstractSelf‐sustained motions are widespread in biological systems by harvesting energy from surrounding environments, which inspire scientists to develop autonomous soft robots. However, most‐existing soft robots require dynamic heterogeneous stimuli or complex fabrication with different components. Recently, control of topological geometry has been promising to afford soft robots with physical intelligence and thus life‐like motions. Reported here are a series of closed twisted ribbon robots, which exhibit self‐sustained flipping and rotation under constant light irradiation. Both Möbius strip and Seifert ribbon robots are devised for the first time by using an identical hydrogel, which responds to light irradiation on either side. Experiment and simulation results indicate that the self‐regulated motions of the hydrogel robots are related to fast and reversible response of muscle‐like gel, self‐shadowing effect, and topology‐facilitated refresh of light‐exposed regions. The motion speeds and directions of the hydrogel robots can be tuned over a wide range. These closed twisted ribbon hydrogels are further applied to execute specific tasks in aqueous environments, such as collecting plastic balls, climbing a vertical rod, and transporting objects. This work presents new design principle for autonomous hydrogel robots by benefiting from material response and topology geometry, which may be inspirative for the robotics community.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Shanxi-Zheda Institute of Advanced Materials and Chemical Engineering
Cited by
5 articles.
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