A programmable powerful and ultra-fast water-driven soft actuator inspired by the mutable collagenous tissue of the sea cucumber
- Authors
- Choi, Andrew; Han, Hyeonseok; Kim, Dong Sung
- Issue Date
- Aug-2021
- Publisher
- Royal Society of Chemistry
- Citation
- Journal of Materials Chemistry A, v.9, no.29, pp 15937 - 15947
- Pages
- 11
- Indexed
- SCIE
SCOPUS
- Journal Title
- Journal of Materials Chemistry A
- Volume
- 9
- Number
- 29
- Start Page
- 15937
- End Page
- 15947
- URI
- https://scholarworks.bwise.kr/erica/handle/2021.sw.erica/115215
- DOI
- 10.1039/d1ta02566j
- ISSN
- 2050-7488
2050-7496
- Abstract
- The sea cucumber evolved to bear mutable collagenous tissue (MCT) that enables its elastic modulus to change by a factor of 10 within a few seconds. It does this by controlling the amount of chemical regulator released, which can subsequently form or break hydrogen bonds within the MCT. Although existing water-driven, self-operating, soft actuators have great potential for soft robotics, they remain fragile and slow; ergo, their range of application remains modest. Inspired by MCT, we introduce a programmable, powerful, and ultra-fast water-driven self-operating soft actuator exerting an actuation force of approximately 2 N with an actuation speed of approximately 3 s−1in 80 °C water based on the dramatic stiffness alteration of bulk poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) hydrogel. This actuator also exhibits outstanding robustness by preserving its original shape over multiple cycles of highly strained (300%) actuations under harsh environments. A simple modulation of cross-linker concentration with its dimensional adjustment enabled the precise tuning of not only the actuation force but also the actuation speed in a wide range. Thus, the soft robotic gripper was able to perform a myriad of intricate tasks such as capturing a fragile object, acting as a biomedical appliance, and closing a large wound with uniform appropriate forces. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2021.
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