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Reversible underwater adhesion for soft robotic feet by leveraging electrochemically tunable liquid metal interfaces

Reversible underwater adhesion for soft robotic feet by leveraging electrochemically tunable liquid metal interfaces
Reversible underwater adhesion for soft robotic feet by leveraging electrochemically tunable liquid metal interfaces

Soft crawling robots have potential applications for surveillance, rescue, and detection in complex environments. Despite this, most existing soft crawling robots either use nonadjustable feet to passively induce asymmetry in friction to actuate or are only capable of moving on surfaces with specific designs. Thus, robots often lack the ability to move along arbitrary directions in a two-dimensional (2D) plane or in unpredictable environments such as wet surfaces. Here, leveraging the electrochemically tunable interfaces of liquid metal, we report the development of liquid metal smart feet (LMSF) that enable electrical control of friction for achieving versatile actuation of prismatic crawling robots on wet slippery surfaces. The functionality of the LMSF is examined on crawling robots with soft or rigid actuators. Parameters that affect the performance of the LMSF are investigated. The robots with the LMSF prove capable of actuating across different surfaces in various solutions. Demonstration of 2D locomotion of crawling robots along arbitrary directions validates the versatility and reliability of the LMSF, suggesting broad utility in the development of advanced soft robotic systems.

crawling robots, EGaIn, liquid metal, soft robotics, tunable interfaces
1944-8244
37904-37914
Lu, Hongda
731b3c09-82ae-408b-8218-95b0de29f2dd
Yun, Guolin
240c3dc9-c224-41c0-8740-de165d1eb90b
Cole, Tim
78cebdf5-e360-4e8e-9dea-ba4b88306980
Ouyang, Yiming
33c343d9-71c5-40e6-aa64-8df3e3427b60
Ren, Hongtai
608a31ca-90db-4a32-8c19-9614ef821be2
Shu, Jian
10c82f94-8f99-4785-b33f-fa20484344fd
Zhang, Yuxin
f858a4e3-2841-46cb-a6d7-a5230e25f467
Zhang, Shiwu
da008f91-71fa-42fb-879e-68b91429e1d6
Dickey, Michael D.
5fe7588c-05b3-4e27-a023-e9a5cb72a305
Li, Weihua
e2555036-0e48-425a-afeb-db6ffba5238e
Tang, Shi Yang
1d0f15c6-2a3e-4bad-a3d8-fc267db93ed4
Lu, Hongda
731b3c09-82ae-408b-8218-95b0de29f2dd
Yun, Guolin
240c3dc9-c224-41c0-8740-de165d1eb90b
Cole, Tim
78cebdf5-e360-4e8e-9dea-ba4b88306980
Ouyang, Yiming
33c343d9-71c5-40e6-aa64-8df3e3427b60
Ren, Hongtai
608a31ca-90db-4a32-8c19-9614ef821be2
Shu, Jian
10c82f94-8f99-4785-b33f-fa20484344fd
Zhang, Yuxin
f858a4e3-2841-46cb-a6d7-a5230e25f467
Zhang, Shiwu
da008f91-71fa-42fb-879e-68b91429e1d6
Dickey, Michael D.
5fe7588c-05b3-4e27-a023-e9a5cb72a305
Li, Weihua
e2555036-0e48-425a-afeb-db6ffba5238e
Tang, Shi Yang
1d0f15c6-2a3e-4bad-a3d8-fc267db93ed4

Lu, Hongda, Yun, Guolin, Cole, Tim, Ouyang, Yiming, Ren, Hongtai, Shu, Jian, Zhang, Yuxin, Zhang, Shiwu, Dickey, Michael D., Li, Weihua and Tang, Shi Yang (2021) Reversible underwater adhesion for soft robotic feet by leveraging electrochemically tunable liquid metal interfaces. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 13 (31), 37904-37914. (doi:10.1021/acsami.1c09776).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Soft crawling robots have potential applications for surveillance, rescue, and detection in complex environments. Despite this, most existing soft crawling robots either use nonadjustable feet to passively induce asymmetry in friction to actuate or are only capable of moving on surfaces with specific designs. Thus, robots often lack the ability to move along arbitrary directions in a two-dimensional (2D) plane or in unpredictable environments such as wet surfaces. Here, leveraging the electrochemically tunable interfaces of liquid metal, we report the development of liquid metal smart feet (LMSF) that enable electrical control of friction for achieving versatile actuation of prismatic crawling robots on wet slippery surfaces. The functionality of the LMSF is examined on crawling robots with soft or rigid actuators. Parameters that affect the performance of the LMSF are investigated. The robots with the LMSF prove capable of actuating across different surfaces in various solutions. Demonstration of 2D locomotion of crawling robots along arbitrary directions validates the versatility and reliability of the LMSF, suggesting broad utility in the development of advanced soft robotic systems.

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More information

Published date: 11 August 2021
Additional Information: Funding Information: S.-Y.T. is grateful for the support from the Royal Society, U.K. (IEC\NSFC\201223). The authors acknowledge the use of the facilities at the Experimental Center of Engineering and Material Sciences (USTC). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 American Chemical Society.
Keywords: crawling robots, EGaIn, liquid metal, soft robotics, tunable interfaces

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 481761
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/481761
ISSN: 1944-8244
PURE UUID: fc0e84ad-257e-4b5d-a723-7a85dfe598f7
ORCID for Shi Yang Tang: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3079-8880

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 07 Sep 2023 16:35
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 02:18

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Contributors

Author: Hongda Lu
Author: Guolin Yun
Author: Tim Cole
Author: Yiming Ouyang
Author: Hongtai Ren
Author: Jian Shu
Author: Yuxin Zhang
Author: Shiwu Zhang
Author: Michael D. Dickey
Author: Weihua Li
Author: Shi Yang Tang ORCID iD

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