Jointless Bioinspired Soft Robotics by Harnessing Micro and Macroporosity.

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Materials Science
• Bioengineering

Background:

• Natural continuum structures, like elephant trunks, inspire versatile grippers but achieving jointless, multidimensional actuation remains a challenge.
• Key challenges include avoiding stiffness changes and enabling large, reliable deformations in multiple directions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop soft actuators with high deformability and multidimensional actuation capabilities.
• To address challenges in stiffness control and large, directional deformations in soft robotic systems.

Main Methods:

• Harnessing porosity at both material and design levels.
• Fabricating monolithic soft actuators using 3D printing of unique polymerizable emulsions.
• Utilizing volumetrically tessellated structures with microporous elastic polymer walls for extensibility and compressibility.

Main Results:

• Developed monolithic pneumatic actuators capable of bidirectional movements using a single actuation source.
• Demonstrated proof-of-concept with a three-fingered gripper and a soft continuum actuator exhibiting biaxial motion and bidirectional bending.
• Achieved reliable and robust multidimensional motions in soft actuators.

Conclusions:

• The proposed approach offers new design paradigms for continuum soft robots.
• Bioinspired soft robots with enhanced multidimensional motion capabilities are now feasible.
• This research advances the field of soft robotics through innovative material and design strategies.