Multimodal Actuation and Precise Control in Liquid Crystal Elastomer Optical Fiber Artificial Muscles.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Robotics
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Artificial muscles are crucial for actuators, soft robotics, and biomedical devices, but achieving multidirectional actuation in confined spaces is difficult.
• Existing artificial muscles face challenges in precise control and complex manipulation tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel liquid crystal elastomer optical fiber (LCEOF) as an artificial muscle.
• To demonstrate multimodal actuation and precise control inspired by the neuromuscular system.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of LCEOFs using a two-step process.
• Characterization of LCEOFs for orientation order and optical transmission loss.
• Bundling LCEOFs to create artificial arms and robotic systems for various tasks.

Main Results:

• LCEOFs achieved over 40% contraction strain with minimal interference.
• Bundled LCEOFs demonstrated long-distance contraction, high weightlifting capacity, wide-range torsion, and omnidirectional bending.
• Precise, independent actuation of bundled LCEOFs was achieved using laser inputs, enabling coordinated, crosstalk-free motions.

Conclusions:

• The developed LCEOFs offer precise and controllable multimodal actuation for artificial muscles.
• These artificial muscles enable complex manipulations for artificial hands and robotics systems in confined environments.
• LCEOFs present new possibilities for smart actuators in advanced applications.