Soft Matter Physics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenbergerstrasse 69, 4040, Linz, Austria.
Adv Mater. 2014 Jan 8;26(1):149-61. doi: 10.1002/adma.201303349. Epub 2013 Nov 4.
Scientists are exploring elastic and soft forms of robots, electronic skin and energy harvesters, dreaming to mimic nature and to enable novel applications in wide fields, from consumer and mobile appliances to biomedical systems, sports and healthcare. All conceivable classes of materials with a wide range of mechanical, physical and chemical properties are employed, from liquids and gels to organic and inorganic solids. Functionalities never seen before are achieved. In this review we discuss soft robots which allow actuation with several degrees of freedom. We show that different actuation mechanisms lead to similar actuators, capable of complex and smooth movements in 3d space. We introduce latest research examples in sensor skin development and discuss ultraflexible electronic circuits, light emitting diodes and solar cells as examples. Additional functionalities of sensor skin, such as visual sensors inspired by animal eyes, camouflage, self-cleaning and healing and on-skin energy storage and generation are briefly reviewed. Finally, we discuss a paradigm change in energy harvesting, away from hard energy generators to soft ones based on dielectric elastomers. Such systems are shown to work with high energy of conversion, making them potentially interesting for harvesting mechanical energy from human gait, winds and ocean waves.
科学家们正在探索弹性和柔软的机器人、电子皮肤和能量收集器，梦想着模仿自然，并在从消费和移动设备到生物医学系统、运动和医疗保健等广泛领域中实现新的应用。从液体和凝胶到有机和无机固体，所有可以想象的材料类别都被应用到了具有广泛机械、物理和化学性能的材料中。实现了以前从未见过的功能。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了可以进行多自由度驱动的软机器人。我们表明，不同的驱动机制导致了类似的执行器，能够在 3D 空间中进行复杂和流畅的运动。我们介绍了传感器皮肤开发方面的最新研究示例，并讨论了超灵活的电子电路、发光二极管和太阳能电池作为示例。传感器皮肤的其他功能，如受动物眼睛启发的视觉传感器、伪装、自清洁和自我修复以及皮肤上的能量存储和产生，也进行了简要回顾。最后，我们讨论了能量收集的范式转变，从基于硬材料的能量发生器转变为基于电介质弹性体的软材料发生器。事实证明，这类系统的能量转换效率很高，因此从人类步态、风和海浪中收集机械能可能具有很大的吸引力。
