Fast Responsive Soft Bio-mimetic Robotic Actuators

Abstract Soft robotics is an exciting new paradigm in engineering that challenges researchers to re-examine the materials and mechanisms to make more versatile, life-like and bio-compatible actuator for human interaction. A wide class of materials come under this category with the stimuli being heat, light, electricity or magnetism. However, the current interest in such materials focuses on achieving flexible actuators which are amenable for easy processing. It provide the feasibility of smart actuating devices, that could undergo intelligent shape change and even biomimetic motion in response to external stimuli such as electric, thermal, photo etc. The goal of this work is to endow robots with new, bio-inspired capabilities that permit adaptive and flexible interactions with unpredictable environments. We have investigated soft and fast-response actuators composed of a polymer base embedded with carbon nanoparticles to exploit the excellent thermal response of certain CNPs. The study demonstrates that for a given type of polymer base, the magnitude of the response can be significantly altered by the type of CNPs and concentration of CNPs. Large actuation has also been observed by incorporating CNPs made from bio-waste material.