Tech Briefs Magazine - May 2023 - 34

Robotics & Automation
" This work is the first time a holistic soft
robot has climbed on inverted surfaces, advancing
state-of-the-art soft robotics innovation, "
said Dr. Boxin Zhao, Professor of
Chemical Engineering. " We are optimistic
about its potential, with much more development,
in several different fields. "
Constructed from a smart material, the
robot - dubbed the GeiwBot by researchers
because of the creatures that
inspired it - can be altered at the molecular
level to mimic how geckos stick and
unstick powerful grippers on their feet.
That enables the robot, which is about
4-cm long, 3-mm wide and 1-mm thick,
to climb on a vertical wall and across
the ceiling without being tethered to
a power source.
Zhao and his research team constructed
the robot using liquid crystal
elastomers and synthetic
adhesive
pads. A light-responsive polymer strip
simulates the arching and stretching
motion
of an inchworm, while
Attachment state (AS)
Transient magnetic field
UV on
UV off
Time
AS
AS
DS
AS
Detachment state (DS)
AS
DS
AS
AS
A light-responsive polymer strip simulates the arching and stretching motion of an inchworm, while
gecko-inspired magnet pads at either end do the gripping. (Image: University of Waterloo)
gecko-inspired magnet pads at either
end do the gripping.
" Even though there are still limitations
to overcome, this development
represents a significant milestone for
utilizing biomimicry and smart materials
for soft robots, " said Zhao. " Nature
is a great source of inspiration
and nanotechnology is an exciting
way to apply its lessons. "
An untethered soft robot paves the
way for potential surgical applications
via remote operation inside the human
body and for sensing or searching
in dangerous or hard-to-reach
places during rescue operations.
The next step for researchers is to
develop a solely light-driven climbing
soft robot that doesn't require a magnetic
field and uses near-infrared radiation
instead of UV light to improve
biocompatibility.
For more information, contact
Rebecca (Becky) Elming at relming@
uwaterloo.ca; 647-459-8313.
Fluid-Driven Actuators Enable Complex Motions in
Soft Robots
The new system could be used for developing robot arms with more useful motion patterns.
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
O
ne of the virtues of untethered soft
robots is their ability to mechanically
adapt to their surroundings and tasks,
making them ideal for a range of roles,
from tightening bolts in a factory to conducting
deep-sea exploration. Now they
are poised to become even more agile
and controlled.
A team of researchers led by Kirstin Petersen,
Assistant Professor of electrical and
computer engineering in the College of
Engineering, designed a new system of fluid-driven
actuators that enable soft robots
34
to achieve more complex motions. The
researchers accomplished this by taking
advantage of the very thing - viscosity -
that had previously stymied the movement
of such robots.
Petersen's Collective Embodied Intelligence
Lab has been exploring ways to
take a robot's cognitive capabilities and
behaviors and offload them from the
" brain " onto the body, via the robot's mechanical
reflexes and ability to leverage
its environment. By reducing the need
for explicit computation, the robot can
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become simpler, more robust, and less expensive
to manufacture.
" Soft robots have a very simple structure
but can have much more flexible
functionality than their rigid cousins.
They're sort of the ultimate embodied
intelligent robot, " Petersen said. " Most
soft robots these days are fluid-driven. In
the past, most people have looked at
how we could get extra bang for our
bucks by embedding functionality into
the robot material, like the elastomer.
Instead, we asked ourselves how we
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