Self-regulated exploring soft robot based on liquid crystal elastomer helical filament
발표자
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초록
내용
Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are one of the most attractive materials for the soft-actuator due to the stimuli-responsive properties. LCEs actuation can be programmed by controlling orientation of LC mesogens and adopting different types of geometries in various dimension. Among a various type of shape, one-dimensional form, filament is effective in designing actuation that is capable of complex locomotion due to their high degree of freedom in three dimensions. Herein, we demonstrate a self-regulated rolling locomotion of helical LCE filament in response to a thermal stimulus, of which locomotion path is precisely controlled by the diameter and period of the helical structure and also temperature. Based on the locomotion of helical filament, we demonstrated the capability of exploring complex maze spaces by self-regulation with external thermal stimulus. The self-regulated, battery-free and wireless soft robots can provide new concept of applications for spatial exploring task.