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Mechanical systems are analogous to to electrical networks where springs and masses play similar roles to inductors and capacitors, respectively. A viscous damper in mechanical systems functions similarly to a resistor in electrical networks, dissipating energy. The forces acting on a mass in such systems include an applied force in the direction of motion, counteracted by forces from the spring, a viscous damper, and the mass's acceleration. This interplay of forces is mathematically...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 11, 2025

Rapid Manufacturing of Thin Soft Pneumatic Actuators and Robots

Rapid Manufacturing of Thin Soft Pneumatic Actuators and Robots

Published on: November 8, 2019

Fast Thermal Actuators for Soft Robotics.

Shuang Wu¹, Gregory Langston Baker¹, Jie Yin¹

¹Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.

|December 7, 2021

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers enhanced soft robot actuation speed using snap-through instability in thermal actuators. This breakthrough achieves significantly faster speeds, enabling rapid crawling robots and biomimetic devices.

Keywords:

electrothermal actuation silver nanowires snap-through instability soft actuator soft robot

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Last Updated: Oct 11, 2025

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Area of Science:

Materials Science
Robotics
Mechanical Engineering

Background:

Thermal actuation is widely used in soft robotics but limited by slow speeds.
Developing faster soft actuators is crucial for advanced robotic applications.

Purpose of the Study:

To significantly increase the actuation speed of bimorph thermal actuators.
To explore the use of snap-through instability for enhanced actuator performance.
To demonstrate the potential of fast thermal actuators in soft robotic systems.

Main Methods:

Fabrication of bimorph thermal actuators using silver nanowire/polydimethylsiloxane composite.
Harnessing snap-through instability by applying offset displacement.
Experimental investigation and finite element analysis of actuator speed.
Evaluation of thermal conductivity, offset displacement, and actuation frequency effects.

Main Results:

Achieved a bending speed of 28.7 cm/s, a tenfold increase compared to conventional actuators.
Demonstrated a crawling robot with a locomotion speed of 1.04 body lengths per second.
Successfully created a biomimetic Venus flytrap using the fast actuators.

Conclusions:

Snap-through instability effectively enhances the actuation speed of thermal actuators.
The developed fast bimorph thermal actuators show significant promise for soft robotics.
This method offers a pathway to overcome speed limitations in thermal actuation for soft robots.