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Hydraulic hydrogel actuators and robots optically and sonically camouflaged in water.


ABSTRACT: Sea animals such as leptocephali develop tissues and organs composed of active transparent hydrogels to achieve agile motions and natural camouflage in water. Hydrogel-based actuators that can imitate the capabilities of leptocephali will enable new applications in diverse fields. However, existing hydrogel actuators, mostly osmotic-driven, are intrinsically low-speed and/or low-force; and their camouflage capabilities have not been explored. Here we show that hydraulic actuations of hydrogels with designed structures and properties can give soft actuators and robots that are high-speed, high-force, and optically and sonically camouflaged in water. The hydrogel actuators and robots can maintain their robustness and functionality over multiple cycles of actuations, owing to the anti-fatigue property of the hydrogel under moderate stresses. We further demonstrate that the agile and transparent hydrogel actuators and robots perform extraordinary functions including swimming, kicking rubber-balls and even catching a live fish in water.

SUBMITTER: Yuk H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5296644 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Hydraulic hydrogel actuators and robots optically and sonically camouflaged in water.

Yuk Hyunwoo H   Lin Shaoting S   Ma Chu C   Takaffoli Mahdi M   Fang Nicolas X NX   Zhao Xuanhe X  

Nature communications 20170201


Sea animals such as leptocephali develop tissues and organs composed of active transparent hydrogels to achieve agile motions and natural camouflage in water. Hydrogel-based actuators that can imitate the capabilities of leptocephali will enable new applications in diverse fields. However, existing hydrogel actuators, mostly osmotic-driven, are intrinsically low-speed and/or low-force; and their camouflage capabilities have not been explored. Here we show that hydraulic actuations of hydrogels w  ...[more]

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