Liang Xianrong, Yuan Chenggang, Wan Chaoying, Gao Xiaolong, Bowen Chris, Pan Min
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Bath, Bath, UK.
International Institute for Nanocomposites Manufacturing (IINM), WMG, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2024 Jan;11(2):e2305163. doi: 10.1002/advs.202305163. Epub 2023 Nov 20.
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.
柔软的机器人躯体容易受到机械疲劳、穿刺、电击穿和老化的影响，这些可能导致性能下降或意外故障。为了克服这些挑战，研究人员使用通过熔融挤出制造的热塑性甲基硫代乙醇酸酯改性苯乙烯-丁二烯-苯乙烯（MG-SBS）弹性体管创建了一种柔软的自修复机器人，使其能够在室温下自主自愈。在反复受损并被分成几个部分后，该机器人能够恢复其刚度和断裂伸长率，在室温下自愈24小时后，机器人的性能几乎能完全恢复。通过对愈合过程、愈合效率、机器人的力学特性以及愈合前后动态性能的评估，从材料尺度到机器人尺度对机器人的自愈合能力进行了研究。该自修复机器人由新型微型双向形状记忆合金（TWSMA）弹簧致动器驱动，其爬行速度达到21.6厘米/分钟，相当于每分钟1.57个身体长度。创建了该机器人的分析模型，以了解机器人动力学，并作为自修复机器人设计和优化的有效工具。因此，这项工作提供了一种创建高效、坚固且耐损伤的柔软机器人的新方法。
