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Rod-based Fabrication of Customizable Soft Robotic Pneumatic Gripper Devices for Delicate Tissue Manipulation

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Performance Evaluation and Optimization of an Ink/Polyurethane Actuator for Light-Driven Soft Gripper.

Quanwang Niu¹, Xiangyu Gu¹, Hao Wu¹

¹College of Electronic and Optical Engineering & College of Flexible Electronics (Future Technology), Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210023, China.

|November 27, 2025

Summary

Researchers optimized a flexible, light-driven actuator using an ink/polyurethane composite for soft robotics. The best performance was achieved with specific material thicknesses, ensuring durability and efficiency for future applications.

Keywords:

actuators light control photothermal effect reliability

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Area of Science:

Materials Science
Robotics
Photonics

Background:

Flexible light-driven actuators are essential for advanced soft robotics and intelligent systems.
Fabrication simplicity and robust performance are key demands for these actuators.
Ink/polyurethane bilayer composites offer a promising platform for low-cost actuator development.

Purpose of the Study:

To optimize the performance of a flexible, light-driven actuator based on an ink/polyurethane bilayer composite.
To systematically investigate the effects of ink concentration and polyurethane layer thickness on actuation.
To establish design principles for enhancing photothermal actuator performance.

Main Methods:

Fabrication of ink/polyurethane bilayer composite actuators.
Systematic variation of ink concentration and polyurethane layer thickness.
Characterization of actuation performance (bending angle, response speed) and durability.
Thermal analysis to understand the relationship between material properties and performance.

Main Results:

Optimized actuation performance achieved at 220 mg/mL ink concentration and 50 µm polyurethane thickness.
Thermal analysis indicated an optimal balance between photothermal efficiency and mechanical integrity.
The optimized actuator demonstrated excellent durability, with no performance loss after 500 cycles.
Validated material system for soft grippers and other soft robotic applications.

Conclusions:

The study successfully optimized a low-cost, light-driven actuator with enhanced performance and durability.
Specific material parameters (ink concentration, layer thickness) are critical for maximizing photothermal actuator efficiency.
The developed material system and design principles are suitable for next-generation soft robotics.