Conventional industrial robots with the rigid actuation technology have made great progress for humans in the fields of automation assembly and manufacturing. With an increasing number of robots needing to interact with humans and unstructured enviro...
Cephalopods such as octopuses have a combination of a stretchable skin and color-tuning organs to control both posture and color for visual communication and disguise. We present an electroluminescent material that is capable of large uniaxial stretc...
Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
Nov 9, 2015
A highly versatile soft gripper that can handle an unprecedented range of object types is developed based on a new design of dielectric elastomer actuators employing an interdigitated electrode geometry, simultaneously maximizing both electroadhesion...
Pneumatic artificial muscles (PAMs) are actuators known for their high power to weight ratio, natural compliance and light weight. Due to these advantages, PAMs have been used for orthotic devices and robotic limbs. Small scale PAMs have the same adv...
Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
Sep 21, 2015
Soft, pneumatic actuators that buckle when interior pressure is less than exterior provide a new mechanism of actuation. Upon application of negative pneumatic pressure, elastic beam elements in these actuators undergo reversible, cooperative collaps...
The detailed mechanical design of a digital mask projection stereolithgraphy system is described for the 3D printing of soft actuators. A commercially available, photopolymerizable elastomeric material is identified and characterized in its liquid an...
This paper presents a flexible tactile sensor with a compact structure based on a piezoresistive thin film and an elastomer for detecting three-dimensional (3D) force. The film contains four independent sensing cells, which were made using a type of ...
Tunable, soft, and multifunctional robots are contributing to developments in medical and rehabilitative robotics, human-machine interaction, and intelligent home technology. A key aspect of soft robot fabrication is the ability to use flexible and e...
Human skin can sense subtle changes of both normal and shear forces (i.e., self-decoupled) and perceive stimuli with finer resolution than the average spacing between mechanoreceptors (i.e., super-resolved). By contrast, existing tactile sensors for ...
In both biological and engineered systems, functioning at peak power output for prolonged periods of time requires thermoregulation. Here, we report a soft hydrogel-based actuator that can maintain stable body temperatures via autonomic perspiration....