Contents
21 April 2021
Vol 6, Issue 53
Vol 6, Issue 53
Editorial
- Smarter materials for smarter robots
Advances in materials science will blur the boundaries between robots and the materials from which they are composed.
Focus
- The jig is up for small soft machines
A watchmaker’s approach yields small, agile, soft machines.
- Unraveling DNA inspires artificial muscle
Super-contractile artificial muscle that is inspired by DNA generates more work than skeletal muscle.
- Climbing robots in a sticky situation
Mussel-inspired electro-responsive adhesive hydrogels enable robot climbing on conductive surfaces.
- Self-propelled hydrogels that glide on water
Active hydrogels with dynamic wettability move spontaneously on the surface of water like a common water strider.
Viewpoint
- Hard questions for soft robotics
How can the field of soft robotics have impact in the next decade?
Research Articles
- Dual high-stroke and high–work capacity artificial muscles inspired by DNA supercoiling
High-stroke and energy-dense artificial muscles are made by mimicking DNA’s ability to contract by supercoiling.
- Voxelated three-dimensional miniature magnetic soft machines via multimaterial heterogeneous assembly
Complex 3D miniature wireless soft machines for biomedical applications were fabricated with a 3D heterogeneous integration approach.
- Underwater maneuvering of robotic sheets through buoyancy-mediated active flutter
Soft robotic skins leverage the dynamic active fluttering in leaves for underwater maneuvering.
- Biohybrid soft robots with self-stimulating skeletons
A skeletal muscle–based biobot with a self-stimulating serpentine spring skeleton demonstrates high-performance inertial swimming.
- Cavatappi artificial muscles from drawing, twisting, and coiling polymer tubes
Cavatappi are lightweight, fluidic, muscle-like actuators made from drawing, twisting, and coiling inexpensive polymer tubes.
- Electrically programmable adhesive hydrogels for climbing robots
Hydrogels offer an electrochemical route to adhesion control for robot climbers.
- Self-powered locomotion of a hydrogel water strider
Dynamic wetting of active hydrogels enables autonomous locomotion on the surface of water.
- High–load capacity origami transformable wheel
Composite membrane origami enables high-payload transformable wheels for a passenger vehicle.
- Robotic surfaces with reversible, spatiotemporal control for shape morphing and object manipulation
A soft, robotic surface can continuously and controllably morph into arbitrary shapes and manipulate objects.
- Programmable and reprocessable multifunctional elastomeric sheets for soft origami robots
2D sheet surfaces are selectively modified and infused with active particles for programmable 3D multifunctional soft robots.
- Somatosensory actuator based on stretchable conductive photothermally responsive hydrogel
Sensing and actuation integrate in a monolithic somatosensitive molecularly engineered actuatable material for soft robotics.
About The Cover
ONLINE COVER A Wheel Advance. Transformable wheels based on membrane origami have the potential for large shape variation, high weight-to-payload ratio, and simple fabrication. However, existing membrane origami wheels have limited load-bearing capacity. By introducing a wireframe design rule that accommodates thick membranes, Lee et al. have developed a high payload membrane origami wheel capable of bearing more than a 10-kN load. The load-bearing property of the wheel design was validated in a passenger vehicle field test. This month's cover is an illustration of a high–load capacity origami transformable wheel. [CREDIT: SOFT ROBOTICS RESEARCH CENTER, SNU]
