Review

A Review of Smart Materials for the Boost of Soft Actuators, Soft Sensors, and Robotics Applications

  • Yufei Hao ,
  • Shixin Zhang ,
  • Bin Fang ,
  • Fuchun Sun ,
  • Huaping Liu ,
  • Haiyuan Li
展开
  • 1. School of mechanical engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China;
    2. School of Engineering and Technology, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China;
    3. Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China;
    4. School of Automation, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, 100876, China

收稿日期: 2020-09-07

  修回日期: 2021-11-24

  网络出版日期: 2022-06-30

基金资助

Supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2019YFB 1309800), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 62173197, 91848206), and Beijing Science & Technology Project (Grant No. Z191100008019 008)

A Review of Smart Materials for the Boost of Soft Actuators, Soft Sensors, and Robotics Applications

  • Yufei Hao ,
  • Shixin Zhang ,
  • Bin Fang ,
  • Fuchun Sun ,
  • Huaping Liu ,
  • Haiyuan Li
Expand
  • 1. School of mechanical engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China;
    2. School of Engineering and Technology, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China;
    3. Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China;
    4. School of Automation, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, 100876, China

Received date: 2020-09-07

  Revised date: 2021-11-24

  Online published: 2022-06-30

Supported by

Supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2019YFB 1309800), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 62173197, 91848206), and Beijing Science & Technology Project (Grant No. Z191100008019 008)

摘要

With the advance of smart material science, robotics is evolving from rigid robots to soft robots. Compared to rigid robots, soft robots can safely interact with the environment, easily navigate in unstructured fields, and be minimized to operate in narrow spaces, owning to the new actuation and sensing technologies developed by the smart materials. In the review, different actuation and sensing technologies based on different smart materials are analyzed and summarized. According to the driving or feedback signals, actuators are categorized into electrically responsive actuators, thermally responsive actuators, magnetically responsive actuators, and photoresponsive actuators; sensors are categorized into resistive sensors, capacitive sensors, magnetic sensors, and optical waveguide sensors. After introducing the principle and several robotic prototypes of some typical materials in each category of the actuators and sensors. The advantages and disadvantages of the actuators and sensors are compared based on the categories, and their potential applications in robotics are also presented.

本文引用格式

Yufei Hao , Shixin Zhang , Bin Fang , Fuchun Sun , Huaping Liu , Haiyuan Li . A Review of Smart Materials for the Boost of Soft Actuators, Soft Sensors, and Robotics Applications[J]. Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 2022 , 35(2) : 37 -37 . DOI: 10.1186/s10033-022-00707-2

Abstract

With the advance of smart material science, robotics is evolving from rigid robots to soft robots. Compared to rigid robots, soft robots can safely interact with the environment, easily navigate in unstructured fields, and be minimized to operate in narrow spaces, owning to the new actuation and sensing technologies developed by the smart materials. In the review, different actuation and sensing technologies based on different smart materials are analyzed and summarized. According to the driving or feedback signals, actuators are categorized into electrically responsive actuators, thermally responsive actuators, magnetically responsive actuators, and photoresponsive actuators; sensors are categorized into resistive sensors, capacitive sensors, magnetic sensors, and optical waveguide sensors. After introducing the principle and several robotic prototypes of some typical materials in each category of the actuators and sensors. The advantages and disadvantages of the actuators and sensors are compared based on the categories, and their potential applications in robotics are also presented.

参考文献

[1] Z Chen, F Gao, Y Pan, et al. Novel door-opening method for six-legged robots based on only force sensing. Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 2017, 30(5): 1227–1238.
[2] J Carpentier, N Mansard. Multicontact locomotion of legged robots. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 2018, 34(6): 1441–1460.
[3] C Wang, K Sim, J Chen, et al. Soft ultrathin electronics innervated adaptive fully soft robots. Advanced Materials, 2018, 30(13): 1706695.1–1706695.9.
[4] Y Tang, L Qin, X Li, et al. A frog-inspired swimming robot based on dielectric elastomer actuators. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots & Systems, Vancouver, BC, Canada, September 24–28, 2017: 2403-2408.
[5] S Seok, C D Onal, K J Cho, et al. Meshworm: A peristaltic soft robot with antagonistic nickel titanium coil actuators. IEEE-ASME Transactions on Mechatronics, 2013, 18(5): 1485–1497.
[6] Z Ren, W Hu, X Dong, et al. Multi-functional soft-bodied jellyfish-like swimming. Nature Communications, 2019, 10(1): 1–2.
[7] M P Cunha, S Ambergen, M G Debije, et al. A soft transporter robot fueled by light. Advanced Science, 2020, 7(5): 1902842.
[8] S Shian, K Bertoldi, D R Clarke. Dielectric elastomer based "grippers" for soft robotics. Advanced Materials, 2015, 27(43): 6814–6819.
[9] B Mazzolai, L Margheri, M Cianchetti, et al. Soft-robotic arm inspired by the octopus: II. From artificial requirements to innovative technological solutions. Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, 2012, 7(2): 025005.
[10] Q Shen, T Wang, J Liang, et al. Hydrodynamic performance of a biomimetic robotic swimmer actuated by ionic polymer-metal composite. Smart Materials and Structures, 2013, 22(7).
[11] T Paulino, P Ribeiro, M Neto, et al. Low-cost 3-axis soft tactile sensors for the human-friendly robot Vizzy. International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Singapore, May 29–June 3, 2017: 966-971.
[12] Y L Park, B R Chen, R J Wood. Soft artificial skin with multi-modal sensing capability using embedded liquid conductors. IEEE Sensors, Limerick, Ireland, October 28–31, 2011: 81–84.
[13] A Atalay, V Sanchez, O Atalay, et al. Batch fabrication of customizable silicone‐textile composite capacitive strain sensors for human motion tracking. Advanced Materials Technologies, 2017, 2(9): 1700136.
[14] T Hellebrekers, O Kroemer, C Majidi. Soft magnetic skin for continuous deformation sensing. Advanced Intelligent Systems, 2019, 1(4).
[15] J Guo, M Niu, C Yang. Highly flexible and stretchable optical strain sensing for human motion detection. Optica, 2017, 4(10): 1285.
[16] C Cao, X Gao, A T Conn. A magnetically coupled dielectric elastomer pump for soft robotics. Advanced Materials Technologies, 2019, 4(8).
[17] J Shintake, V Cacucciolo, H Shea, et al. Soft biomimetic fish robot made of dielectric elastomer actuators. Soft Robotics, 2018, 5(4): 466–474.
[18] X Ji, X Liu, V Cacucciolo, et al. An autonomous untethered fast soft robotic insect driven by low-voltage dielectric elastomer actuators. Science Robotics, 2019, 4(37).
[19] J Shintake, S Rosset, B Schubert, et al. Versatile soft grippers with intrinsic electroadhesion based on multifunctional polymer actuators. Advanced Materials, 2016, 28(2): 231–238.
[20] G Gu, J Zou, R Zhao, et al. Soft wall-climbing robots. Science Robotics, 2018, 3(25).
[21] E Acome, S K Mitchell, T G Morrissey, et al. Hydraulically amplified self-healing electrostatic actuators with muscle-like performance. Science, 2018, 359(6371): 61–65.
[22] S K Mitchell, X Wang, E Acome, et al. An easy-to-implement toolkit to create versatile and high performance HASEL actuators for Untethered Soft Robots. Advanced Science, 2019, 6(14): 1900178.
[23] Y Li, M Guo, Y Li. Recent advances in plasticized PVC gels for soft actuators and devices: A review. Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 2019, 7(42): 12991–13009.
[24] X Cheng, W Yang, L Cheng, et al. Tunable-focus negative poly (vinyl chloride) gelmicrolens driven by unilateral electrodes. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 2018, 135(15): 46136.
[25] A Zatopa, S Walker, Y Menguc. Fully soft 3D-printed electroactive fluidic valve for soft hydraulic robots. Soft Robotics, 2018, 5(3): 258-271.
[26] Y Hao, Z Liu, J Liu, et al. A soft gripper with programmable effective length, tactile and curvature sensory feedback. Smart Materials and Structures, 2020, 29(3): 035006.
[27] S Felton, M Tolley, E Demaine, et al. A method for building self-folding machines. Science, 2014, 345(6197): 644–646.
[28] T Chen, K Shea. An autonomous programmable actuator and shape reconfigurable structures using bistability and shape memory polymers. 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing, 2018, 5(2).
[29] A M Hubbard, E Luong, A Ratanaphruks, et al. Shrink films get a grip. ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 2019.
[30] R Mikołaj, Z Hao, X Chen, et al. Light-driven soft robot mimics caterpillar locomotion in natural scale. Advanced Optical Materials, 2016, 4(11): 1689–1694.
[31] A Byoungkwon, S Miyashita, A Ong, et al. An end-to-end approach to self-folding origami structures by uniform heat. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 2017, 34(6).
[32] H T Lin, G G Leisk, B Trimmer. GoQBot: a caterpillar-inspired soft-bodied rolling robot. Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, 2011, 6(2): 026007.
[33] W Hu, G Z Lum, M Mastrangeli, et al. Small-scale soft-bodied robot with multimodal locomotion. Nature, 2018, 554(7690): 81–85.
[34] Y Kim, H Yuk, R Zhao, et al. Printing ferromagnetic domains for untethered fast-transforming soft materials. Nature, 2018, 558(7709): 274–279.
[35] Y Kim, G A Parada, S Liu, et al. Ferromagnetic soft continuum robots. Science Robotics, 2019, 4(33): eaax7329.
[36] G Mao, M Drack, M Karami-Mosammam, et al. Soft electromagnetic actuators. Science Advances, 2020, 6(26): eabc0251.
[37] R Dong, Y Hu, Y Wu, et al. Visible-light-driven BiOI-based Janus micromotor in pure water. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2017, 139(5): 1722–1725.
[38] O M Wani, R Verpaalen, H Zeng, et al. An artificial nocturnal flower via humidity-gated photoactuation in liquid crystal networks. Advanced Materials, 2019, 31(2): 1805985.
[39] H Yang, W R Leow, T Wang, et al. 3D printed photoresponsive devices based on shape memory composites. Advanced Materials, 2017, 29(33): 1701627.1–1701627.7.
[40] D Vogt, Y L Park, R J Wood. A soft multi-axis force sensor. IEEE Sensors, Taipei, Taiwan, China, October 28–31, 2012: 1–4.
[41] X Shi, C H Cheng, Y Zheng, et al. An EGaIn-based flexible piezoresistive shear and normal force sensor with hysteresis analysis in normal force direction. Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, 2016, 26(10): 105020.
[42] G Gu, H Xu, S Peng, et al. Integrated soft ionotropic skin with stretchable and transparent hydrogel-elastomer ionic sensors for hand-motion monitoring. Soft Robotics, 2019, 6(3): 368–76.
[43] C F Hu, W S Su, W Fang. Development of patterned carbon nanotubes on a 3D polymer substrate for the flexible tactile sensor application. Journal of Micromechanics & Microengineering, 2011, 21(11): 115012.
[44] R L Truby, M Wehner, A K Grosskopf, et al. Soft somatosensitive actuators via embedded 3D printing. Advanced Materials, 2018, 30(15): 1706383.1–1706383.8.
[45] R L Truby, C D Santina, D Rus. Distributed proprioception of 3D configuration in soft, sensorized robots via deep learning. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2020, 5(2): 3299–3306.
[46] C Mu, Y Song, W Huang, et al. Flexible normal-tangential force sensor with opposite resistance responding for highly sensitive artificial skin. Advanced Functional Materials, 2018, 28(18): 1707503.
[47] C Pang, G Y Lee, T I Kim, et al. A flexible and highly sensitive strain-gauge sensor using reversible interlocking of nanofibres. Nature Materials, 2012, 11(9): 795–801.
[48] S H Cho, S W Lee, S Yu, et al. Micropatterned pyramidal ionic gels for sensing broad-range pressures with high sensitivity. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2017, 9(11): 10128–10135.
[49] S Kang, J Lee, S Lee, et al. Highly sensitive pressure sensor based on bioinspired porous structure for real-time tactile sensing. Advanced Electronic Materials, 2016, 2(12): 1600356.
[50] D Kwon, T I Lee, J Shim, et al. Highly sensitive, flexible and wearable pressure sensor based on a giant piezocapacitive effect of three-dimensional microporous elastomeric dielectric layer. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2016, 8(26): 16922–16931.
[51] S Peng, S Chen, Y Huang, et al. High sensitivity capacitive pressure sensor with bi-layer porous structure elastomeric dielectric formed by a facile solution based process. IEEE Sensors, 2018, 3(2): 1–4.
[52] L Ma, X Shuai, Y Hu, et al. A highly sensitive and flexible capacitive pressure sensor based on a micro-arrayed polydimethylsiloxane dielectric layer. Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 2018, 6(48): 13232–13240.
[53] P Roberts, D D Damian, W Shan, et al. Soft-matter capacitive sensor for measuring shear and pressure deformation. International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Karlsruhe, Germany, May 6–10, 2013: 3529–3534.
[54] L Viry, A Levi, M Totaro, et al. Flexible three-axial force sensor for soft and highly sensitive artificial touch. Advanced Materials, 2014, 26(17): 2659–2664.
[55] Y Huang, H Yuan, W Kan, et al. A flexible three-axial capacitive tactile sensor with multilayered dielectric for artificial skin applications. Microsystem Technologies, 2017, 23(6): 1847-1852.
[56] C M Boutry, M Negre, M Jorda, et al. A hierarchically patterned, bioinspired e-skin able to detect the direction of applied pressure for robotics. Science Robotics, 2018, 3(24): eaau6914.
[57] T P Tomo, A Schmitz, W K Wong, et al. Covering a robot fingertip with uSkin: A soft electronic skin with distributed 3-axis force sensitive elements for robot hands. International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Brisbane, Australia, May 21–25, 2018, 3(1): 124–131.
[58] H Guo, F Ju, Y Cao, et al. Continuum robot shape estimation using permanent magnets and magnetic sensors. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 2019, 285: 519–530.
[59] J Ge, X Wang, M Drack, et al. A bimodal soft electronic skin for tactile and touchless interaction in real time. Nature Communications, 2019, 10(1): 1–10.
[60] H Liu, J Back, K Althoefer. Feasibility study-novel optical soft tactile array sensing for minimally invasive surgery. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots & Systems, Hamburg, Germany, September 28–October 02, 2015: 1528–1533.
[61] Llamosiartemis, Toussaintseverine. Measuring force intensity and direction with a spatially resolved soft sensor for biomechanics and robotic haptic capability. Soft Robotics, 2019, 6(3): 346–355.
[62] H Zhao, O Brien, Kevin, S Li, et al. Optoelectronically innervated soft prosthetic hand via stretchable optical waveguides. Science Robotics, 2016, 1(1): eaai7529.
[63] J Jung, M Park, D Kim, et al. Optically sensorized elastomer air chamber for proprioceptive sensing of soft pneumatic actuators. International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Paris, France, May 31–Jun 4, 2020, 5(2): 2333–2340.
文章导航

/