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Soft Swimming Robot Driven by Electroosmotic Propulsion with Silent and Programmable Locomotion
Mingyu Dong1,2, Chenyunfei Qiu1,2, Wendi Bao1,2
1State Key Laboratory of Cryogenic Science and Technology and Beijing Key Laboratory of Cryobiomedicine, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100190, China.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
|August 13, 2026
Summary
This study introduces a soft swimming robot with electroosmotic microchannel propulsion, offering continuous thrust without moving parts. This innovation enables low-disturbance aquatic locomotion for sensitive environments.
Area of Science:
- Robotics
- Fluid Dynamics
- Materials Science
Background:
- Soft robotic systems in liquid environments need propulsion that is compliant, stable, and minimally disruptive.
- Conventional mechanical propulsion methods often create noise and turbulence, unsuitable for delicate fluidic applications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a fully soft swimming robot utilizing integrated electroosmotic microchannel propulsion.
- To demonstrate a novel propulsion method for soft robots operating in liquid environments.
Main Methods:
- A centimeter-scale soft robot was designed with an integrated electroosmotic microchannel propulsion module (0.04 cm3 volume).
- The module features 120 parallel microchannels and liquid metal electrodes within a flexible elastomeric body.
- Electrokinetic transport was directly converted into continuous fluid thrust without mechanical moving parts.
Main Results:
- The robot achieved a swimming speed of 2.85 body lengths per second and a turning speed of 62° s-1 with a single module, consuming 60 mW power.
- The propulsion module maintained thrust under significant bending deformation, showing resilience and reliability.
- The robot demonstrated high thrust capacity (pushing 13x its weight) and programmable locomotion with a dual-module configuration.
Conclusions:
- Embedded electroosmotic microchannel propulsion is a viable materials-enabled strategy for soft actuation and microfluidic propulsion.
- The developed soft robot offers low-disturbance operation suitable for sensitive aquatic environments and safe interaction with organisms.
- This technology advances bioinspired robotic systems and microfluidic applications.
