Wu Yingdan, Dong Xiaoguang, Kim Jae-Kang, Wang Chunxiang, Sitti Metin
Physical Intelligence Department, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, 70569, Germany.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.
Sci Adv. 2022 May 27;8(21):eabn3431. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abn3431.
Wireless soft-bodied robots at the millimeter scale allow traversing very confined unstructured terrains with minimal invasion and safely interacting with the surrounding environment. However, existing untethered soft millirobots still lack the ability of climbing, reversible controlled surface adhesion, and long-term retention on unstructured three-dimensional (3D) surfaces, limiting their use in biomedical and environmental applications. Here, we report a fundamental peeling-and-loading mechanism to allow untethered soft-bodied robots to climb 3D surfaces by using both the soft-body deformation and whole-body motion of the robot under external magnetic fields. This generic mechanism is implemented with different adhesive robot footpad designs, allowing vertical and inverted surface climbing on diverse 3D surfaces with complex geometries and different surface properties. With the unique robot footpad designs that integrate microstructured adhesives and tough bioadhesives, the soft climbing robot could achieve controllable adhesion and friction to climb 3D soft and wet surfaces including porcine tissues, which paves the way for future environmental inspection and minimally invasive medicine applications.
毫米级的无线软体机器人能够以最小的侵入性穿越非常狭窄的非结构化地形，并与周围环境安全地相互作用。然而，现有的无绳软微型机器人仍然缺乏攀爬、可逆控制的表面粘附以及在非结构化三维（3D）表面上长期停留的能力，这限制了它们在生物医学和环境应用中的使用。在这里，我们报告了一种基本的剥离和加载机制，通过利用机器人在外部磁场下的软体变形和全身运动，使无绳软体机器人能够攀爬3D表面。这种通用机制通过不同的粘性机器人脚垫设计来实现，允许在具有复杂几何形状和不同表面特性的各种3D表面上进行垂直和倒置表面攀爬。通过集成微结构粘合剂和坚韧生物粘合剂的独特机器人脚垫设计，软攀爬机器人可以实现可控的粘附和摩擦，以攀爬包括猪组织在内的3D柔软和潮湿表面，这为未来的环境检查和微创医学应用铺平了道路。
