Soft actuators produce the mechanical force needed for the functional movements of soft robots, but they suffer from critical drawbacks since previously reported soft actuators often rely on electrical wires or pneumatic tubes for the power supply, which would limit the potential usage of soft robots in various practical applications. In this article, we review the new types of untethered soft actuators that represent breakthroughs and discuss the future perspective of soft actuators. We discuss the functional materials and innovative strategies that gave rise to untethered soft actuators and deliver our perspective on challenges and opportunities for future-generation soft actuators.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47639-0 | DOI Listing |
Sensors (Basel)
January 2025
Institute of Semiconductor Technology (IHT), Technische Universität Braunschweig, Hans-Sommer-Straße 66, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany.
A novel piezoresistive cantilever microprobe (PCM) with an integrated electrothermal or piezoelectric actuator has been designed to replace current commercial PCMs, which require external actuators to perform contact-resonance imaging (CRI) of workpieces and avoid unwanted "forest of peaks" observed at large travel speed in the millimeter-per-second range. Initially, a PCM with integrated resistors for electrothermal actuation (ETA) was designed, built, and tested. Here, the ETA can be performed with a piezoresistive Wheatstone bridge, which converts mechanical strain into electrical signals by boron diffusion in order to simplify the production process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicromachines (Basel)
January 2025
Zhejiang Sunny Optical Company, Yuyao 315400, China.
Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are difficult to apply to flexible grippers due to their small deformation range and low output force. Hence, a DEA with a large bending deformation range and output force was designed, and a corresponding flexible gripper was developed to realize the function of grasping objects of different shapes. The relationship between the pre-stretch ratio and DEA deformation degree was tested by experiments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSmall
January 2025
Department of Materials Physics and New Energy Device School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China.
Smart grippers serving as soft robotics have garnered extensive attentions owing to their great potentials in medical, biomedical, and industrial fields. Though a diversity of grippers that account for manipulating the small objects (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGels
January 2025
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA.
Stimuli-responsive hydrogels hold immense promise for biomedical applications, but conventional gelation processes often struggle to achieve the precision and complexity required for advanced functionalities such as soft robotics, targeted drug delivery, and tissue engineering. This study introduces a class of 3D-printable magnetic hydrogels with tunable stiffness, adhesion, and magnetic responsiveness, prepared through a simple and efficient "one-pot" method. This approach enables precise control over the hydrogel's mechanical properties, with an elastic modulus ranging from 43 kPa to 277 kPa, tensile strength from 93 kPa to 421 kPa, and toughness from 243 kJ/m to 1400 kJ/m, achieved by modulating the concentrations of acrylamide (AM) and FeO nanoparticles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGels
January 2025
AIT-Austrian Institute of Technology, Giefinggasse 4, 1210 Vienna, Austria.
This review summarizes the fundamental concepts, recent advancements, and emerging trends in the field of stimuli-responsive hydrogels. While numerous reviews exist on this topic, the field continues to evolve dynamically, and certain research directions are often overlooked. To address this, we classify stimuli-responsive hydrogels based on their response mechanisms and provide an in-depth discussion of key properties and mechanisms, including swelling kinetics, mechanical properties, and biocompatibility/biodegradability.
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