Abstract
Soft robotic bodies are susceptible to mechanical fatigue, punctures, electrical breakdown, and aging, which can result in the degradation of performance or unexpected failure. To overcome these challenges, a soft self-healing robot is created using a thermoplastic methyl thioglycolate–modified styrene–butadiene–styrene (MG-SBS) elastomer tube fabricated by melt-extrusion, to allow the robot to self-heal autonomously at room temperature. After repeated damage and being separated into several parts, the robot is able to heal its stiffness and elongation to break to enable almost complete recovery of robot performance after being allowed to heal at room temperature for 24 h. The self-healing capability of the robot is examined across the material scale to robot scale by detailed investigations of the healing process, healing efficiency, mechanical characterization of the robot, and assessment of dynamic performance before and after healing. The self-healing robot is driven by a new micro two-way shape-memory alloy (TWSMA) spring actuator which achieved a crawling speed of 21.6 cm/min, equivalent to 1.57 body length per minute. An analytical model of the robot is created to understand the robot dynamics and to act as an efficient tool for self-healing robot design and optimization. This work therefore provides a new methodology to create efficient, robust, and damage-tolerant soft robots.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 2305163 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Advanced Science |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 20 Nov 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 12 Jan 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Acknowledgements:The authors thank the polymer extrusion support from Prof A. Kelly and P. Coates from the University of Bradford, UK. The authors also thank Leverhulme Research Fellowship RF-2020-503, The Leverhulme Trust UK. The Alumni Fund F1920A-RS02, University of Bath UK for the funding.
Funding
The authors thank the polymer extrusion support from Prof A. Kelly and P. Coates from the University of Bradford, UK. The authors also thank Leverhulme Research Fellowship RF-2020-503, The Leverhulme Trust UK. The Alumni Fund F1920A-RS02, University of Bath UK for the funding.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Leverhulme Trust | F1920A-RS02, RF-2020-503 |
| University of Bath |
Keywords
- micro two-way shape memory alloy spring
- self-healing elastomers
- self-healing robots
- soft robots
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Engineering
- General Physics and Astronomy
- General Chemical Engineering
- General Materials Science
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (miscellaneous)
- Medicine (miscellaneous)