{"id":1090,"date":"2018-07-18T11:33:20","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T10:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mub.eps.manchester.ac.uk\/in-abstract\/?p=1090"},"modified":"2019-02-06T11:09:22","modified_gmt":"2019-02-06T11:09:22","slug":"bionic-intelligent-hydrogel-actuators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mub.eps.manchester.ac.uk\/in-abstract\/bionic-intelligent-hydrogel-actuators\/","title":{"rendered":"Bionic intelligent hydrogel actuators with multimodal deformation and locomotion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Biologically inspired soft actuators<\/strong><\/p>\n

A soft robot is an engineered mobile machine that is largely constructed from soft materials. Most conventional robots are constructed from stiff materials such as steel, aluminum and plastics. They are usually powered directly by electric motors or by hydraulic fluids through rigid tubes. Such machines are capable of high speeds and great precision, making them productive in factory assembly lines. However, very few of these machines can operate in natural environments or in close proximity to humans. To overcome some of these obstacles there is an increasing interest in building robots from soft materials. The goal of soft robotics is to make machines that are adaptable and more creature-like in their capabilities by using soft active materials, advanced manufacturing techniques and biologically inspired designs. Researchers at The University of Manchester successfully fabricated a series of novel soft actuators that can generate accurate and repeatable static deformations and also efficient and stabilized dynamic locomotion, demonstrated, for example, through the assembly of origami, the deformation of fingers and palm, the closing and blooming of a chrysanthemum and the crawling of an inchworm robot. This study opens a new path for practical applications of the smart soft actuators in self-assembly biosensors, targeted drug delivery, bio-inspired robotics and minimally invasive surgery.<\/p>\n

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