A fabrication strategy for millimeter-scale, self-sensing soft-rigid hybrid robots.

ABSTRACT: Soft robots typically involve manual assembly of core hardware components like actuators, sensors, and controllers. This increases fabrication time and reduces consistency, especially in small-scale soft robots. We present a scalable monolithic fabrication method for millimeter-scale soft-rigid hybrid robots, simplifying the integration of core hardware components. Actuation is provided by soft-foldable polytetrafluoroethylene film-based actuators powered by ionic fluid injection. The desired motion is encoded by integrating a mechanical controller, comprised of rigid-flexible materials. The robot's motion can be self-sensed using an ionic resistive sensor by detecting electrical resistance changes across its body. Our approach is demonstrated by fabricating three distinct soft-rigid hybri

SUBMITTER: Lee HC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11442515 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature