Xu Chuhan, Ma Jiayao, Fu Lei, Liu Xinmeng, Zhang Lei, Chen Yan
Key Laboratory of Mechanism Theory and Equipment Design of Ministry of Education, Tianjin University, 135 Yaguan Road, Tianjin, 300350, China.
School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University, 135 Yaguan Road, Tianjin, 300350, China.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2025 Jun;12(23):e2500577. doi: 10.1002/advs.202500577. Epub 2025 Apr 2.
Untethered soft robots made of stimuli-responsive materials hold great application potential in various fields. However, most robots of this type require artificial modulation of the stimuli to actuate, while it is a great challenge to achieve fast periodic locomotion under a constant external environment. Here, a double-helical robot constructed with humidity-sensitive agarose (AG) films, referred to as the Dualicalbot is proposed, which can rapidly roll under a constant humid environment by making two helices alternately bend by absorbing humidity to actuate the robot in two half-cycles. A theoretical model is built to unveil the periodic deformation of the robot as well as the correlation between the design parameters and the motion speed, based on which the Dualicalbot can reach a maximum rolling speed of 5.8 BL s. Moreover, it is capable of carrying a payload up to 100% of self-weight and detecting the acid environment it rolls through. This work is envisaged, and more generally the structural design and theoretical modeling principle, will open a new avenue for the development of advanced soft robotics with diverse functionalities.
由刺激响应材料制成的无束缚软机器人在各个领域具有巨大的应用潜力。然而，这类机器人中的大多数需要对刺激进行人工调制才能驱动，而在恒定的外部环境下实现快速周期性运动是一项巨大的挑战。在此，提出了一种由湿度敏感琼脂糖（AG）薄膜构建的双螺旋机器人，称为Dualicalbot，它可以在恒定湿度环境下通过吸收湿度使两个螺旋交替弯曲，从而在两个半周期内驱动机器人快速滚动。建立了一个理论模型来揭示机器人的周期性变形以及设计参数与运动速度之间的相关性，基于此，Dualicalbot可以达到5.8 BL s的最大滚动速度。此外，它能够承载高达自身重量100%的 payload，并检测其滚动通过的酸性环境。这项工作以及更普遍的结构设计和理论建模原理，将为开发具有多种功能的先进软机器人开辟一条新途径。
