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Free-form Light Actuators — Fabrication and Control of Actuation in Microscopic Scale

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Programmable Shape-Shifting Soft Robotic Structure Using Liquid Metal Electromagnetic Actuators.

Piotr Bartkowski¹, Łukasz Pawliszak¹, Siddhi G Chevale¹

¹Department of Machine Design Fundamentals, Faculty of Automotive and Construction Machinery Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland.

|April 10, 2024

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers developed a novel soft robotic structure using liquid metal and granular jamming. This structure can reversibly change shape in 3D when electric current is applied, enabling new flexible devices.

Keywords:

highly deformable robots liquid metal actuator programmable matter shape morphing variable stiffness actuation

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Area of Science:

Robotics
Materials Science
Mechanical Engineering

Background:

Advancements in soft robotics, stretchable electronics, and flexible medical devices require novel materials capable of shape change.
Existing flexible structures often lack independent control or shape retention after actuation.

Purpose of the Study:

To present a new soft robotic structure capable of programmable 3D shape morphing.
To demonstrate electromagnetic actuation using embedded liquid-metal conductors for shape control.
To investigate the role of granular jamming for shape memory.

Main Methods:

Fabrication of volumetric pixels (voxels) with granular cores and liquid-metal embedded silicone shells.
Application of electrical current for electromagnetic actuation via Lorentz force.
Utilizing vacuum pressure for independent voxel control.
Multiphysics simulation and experimental characterization including 3D digital image correlation and 3D magnetic field scanning.

Main Results:

The proposed structure successfully morphs into various 3D configurations with amplitudes exceeding 10 mm.
The granular core enables shape retention after actuation due to the granular jamming effect.
The shape-changing process is demonstrated to be fully reversible and repeatable.

Conclusions:

The developed soft robotic structure offers a promising platform for advanced flexible devices.
Independent control of voxels allows for complex and programmable shape transformations.
The combination of electromagnetic actuation and granular jamming provides robust and repeatable shape morphing capabilities.