3D-Printed Dynamic Liquid Crystal Elastomer Composites with Adaptive Reconfiguration Showing Multimodal,...

Inspired by the environment-adaptive behaviors of water striders, we 3D-printed a light-driven liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) swimming robot, OptiLCE Strider, capable of multimodal locomotion and adaptive reconfiguration at the air-water interface. Utilizing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as photothermal fillers and dynamic disulfide bonds for shape reconfigurability, the robot exhibits three distinct propulsion modes: Marangoni-effect-driven continuous motion under low light intensity (1.3-7.2 mm s^{- 1}), steam-wave-induced pulsatile locomotion under high light intensity (12.5-16.8 mm s^{- 1}), and flapping propulsion enabled by reversible LCE deformation (4.6-6.9 mm s^{- 1}). The dynamic disulfide bonds enable exceptional structural reconfigurability and environmental adaptability for the LCE robot to execute complex tasks, including maze navigation, cargo capture/transport, programmable rotation, and light-powered jumping (escape from grounded or obstructed states via actuation energy storage/release, with jumping height/distance 6×/3.3× the robot length). The qualitative phase map guides locomotion mode selection, while energetic cost analysis reveals a clear force-efficiency trade off among the three modes, guiding application specific selection. This study highlights the potential of dynamic LCE-based robots for intelligent systems in liquid interface environments, paving the way for versatile applications in soft robotics and biomimetic engineering.