Electrically Controlled Soft Actuators with Multiple and Reprogrammable Actuation Modes
New forms of soft actuators have enabled the construction of novel soft robots with various functionalities. Though previous researches have successfully fabricated soft actuators with diverse actuation modes, their actuation capabilities are often fixed once their fabrication is completed. Herein,...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2020-06-01
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| Series: | Advanced Intelligent Systems |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/aisy.201900177 |
| _version_ | 1819148473408159744 |
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| author | Yang Wang Zhijian Wang Qiguang He Prajval Iyer Shengqiang Cai |
| author_facet | Yang Wang Zhijian Wang Qiguang He Prajval Iyer Shengqiang Cai |
| author_sort | Yang Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | New forms of soft actuators have enabled the construction of novel soft robots with various functionalities. Though previous researches have successfully fabricated soft actuators with diverse actuation modes, their actuation capabilities are often fixed once their fabrication is completed. Herein, an electrically controlled soft actuator with multiple and reprogrammable actuation modes is designed and fabricated. The soft actuator is composed of two layers of disulfide liquid crystal elastomer (ss‐LCE) film with embedded resistive heating wires of serpentine shape. The actuation mode of the actuator can be programmed by introducing a certain alignment of liquid crystal mesogens in the ss‐LCE film, which is achieved by the controlled deformation of the actuator at room temperature and the rearrangement of the polymer network through disulfide exchange reaction in the material. The actuation mode of the actuator can be easily erased by heating it up to 180 °C, and a new mode of actuation can be introduced by deforming the actuator to a new shape at room temperature. With the reprogrammable and multiple actuation modes, a reusable and general‐purpose soft actuator is demonstrated herein which can meet various requirements in constructing new soft active devices. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T13:46:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7fd635dc51984c119eb59c79c624dead |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2640-4567 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T13:46:16Z |
| publishDate | 2020-06-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Advanced Intelligent Systems |
| spelling | doaj.art-7fd635dc51984c119eb59c79c624dead2022-12-21T18:23:47ZengWileyAdvanced Intelligent Systems2640-45672020-06-0126n/an/a10.1002/aisy.201900177Electrically Controlled Soft Actuators with Multiple and Reprogrammable Actuation ModesYang Wang0Zhijian Wang1Qiguang He2Prajval Iyer3Shengqiang Cai4Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering University of California San Diego La Jolla CA 92093 USADepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering University of California San Diego La Jolla CA 92093 USADepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering University of California San Diego La Jolla CA 92093 USADepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering University of California San Diego La Jolla CA 92093 USADepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering University of California San Diego La Jolla CA 92093 USANew forms of soft actuators have enabled the construction of novel soft robots with various functionalities. Though previous researches have successfully fabricated soft actuators with diverse actuation modes, their actuation capabilities are often fixed once their fabrication is completed. Herein, an electrically controlled soft actuator with multiple and reprogrammable actuation modes is designed and fabricated. The soft actuator is composed of two layers of disulfide liquid crystal elastomer (ss‐LCE) film with embedded resistive heating wires of serpentine shape. The actuation mode of the actuator can be programmed by introducing a certain alignment of liquid crystal mesogens in the ss‐LCE film, which is achieved by the controlled deformation of the actuator at room temperature and the rearrangement of the polymer network through disulfide exchange reaction in the material. The actuation mode of the actuator can be easily erased by heating it up to 180 °C, and a new mode of actuation can be introduced by deforming the actuator to a new shape at room temperature. With the reprogrammable and multiple actuation modes, a reusable and general‐purpose soft actuator is demonstrated herein which can meet various requirements in constructing new soft active devices.https://doi.org/10.1002/aisy.201900177liquid crystal elastomersmultiple actuation modesreprogrammable actuatorssoft actuators |
| spellingShingle | Yang Wang Zhijian Wang Qiguang He Prajval Iyer Shengqiang Cai Electrically Controlled Soft Actuators with Multiple and Reprogrammable Actuation Modes Advanced Intelligent Systems liquid crystal elastomers multiple actuation modes reprogrammable actuators soft actuators |
| title | Electrically Controlled Soft Actuators with Multiple and Reprogrammable Actuation Modes |
| title_full | Electrically Controlled Soft Actuators with Multiple and Reprogrammable Actuation Modes |
| title_fullStr | Electrically Controlled Soft Actuators with Multiple and Reprogrammable Actuation Modes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Electrically Controlled Soft Actuators with Multiple and Reprogrammable Actuation Modes |
| title_short | Electrically Controlled Soft Actuators with Multiple and Reprogrammable Actuation Modes |
| title_sort | electrically controlled soft actuators with multiple and reprogrammable actuation modes |
| topic | liquid crystal elastomers multiple actuation modes reprogrammable actuators soft actuators |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/aisy.201900177 |
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