Nature Communications· 2017Q1
Hydraulic hydrogel actuators and robots optically and sonically camouflaged in water
- 980citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2017year
Short summary
Soft hydrogel actuators and robots achieve high-speed, high-force actuation and optical/sonic camouflage in water, mimicking sea animals.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Hydraulic actuation of designed hydrogels enables high-speed and high-force soft robots.
- Actuators achieve optical and sonic camouflage in water.
- Hydrogels demonstrate anti-fatigue properties for robust, multi-cycle functionality.
- Demonstrated functions include swimming, ball kicking, and fish catching.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Sea animals such as leptocephali develop tissues and organs composed of active transparent hydrogels to achieve agile motions and natural camouflage in water. Hydrogel-based actuators that can imitate the capabilities of leptocephali will enable new applications in diverse fields. However, existing hydrogel actuators, mostly osmotic-driven, are intrinsically low-speed and/or low-force; and their camouflage capabilities have not been explored. Here we show that hydraulic actuations of hydrogels with designed structures and properties can give soft actuators and robots that are high-speed, high-force, and optically and sonically camouflaged in water. The hydrogel actuators and robots can maintain their robustness and functionality over multiple cycles of actuations, owing to the anti-fatigue property of the hydrogel under moderate stresses. We further demonstrate that the agile and transparent hydrogel actuators and robots perform extraordinary functions including swimming, kicking rubber-balls and even catching a live fish in water.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Nature Communications, 2017 · DOI ↗
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Field: Condensed Matter Physics
Condensed Matter PhysicsPhysics and Astronomy