1. Highly Integrated Multi-Material Fibers for Soft Robotics
- Author
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Andreas Leber, Chaoqun Dong, Stella Laperrousaz, Hritwick Banerjee, Mohamed E. M. K. Abdelaziz, Nicola Bartolomei, Bastien Schyrr, Burak Temelkuran, and Fabien Sorin
- Subjects
multi-material fibers ,soft robotics ,Technology ,Chemistry, Multidisciplinary ,General Chemical Engineering ,Materials Science ,design ,General Physics and Astronomy ,Medicine (miscellaneous) ,Materials Science, Multidisciplinary ,Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (miscellaneous) ,steerable catheters and endoscopes ,catheters ,General Materials Science ,Nanoscience & Nanotechnology ,sensing and actuation ,driven ,actuator ,Science & Technology ,medical applications ,General Engineering ,thermal drawing ,Chemistry ,Physical Sciences ,Science & Technology - Other Topics ,modeling approach - Abstract
Soft robots are envisioned as the next generation of safe biomedical devices in minimally invasive procedures. Yet, the difficulty of processing soft materials currently limits the size, aspect-ratio, manufacturing throughput, as well as, the design complexity and hence capabilities of soft robots. Multi-material thermal drawing is introduced as a material and processing platform to create soft robotic fibers imparted with multiple actuations and sensing modalities. Several thermoplastic and elastomeric material options for the fibers are presented, which all exhibit the rheological processing attributes for thermal drawing but varying mechanical properties, resulting in adaptable actuation performance. Moreover, numerous different fiber designs with intricate internal architectures, outer diameters of 700 mu m, aspect ratios of 10(3), and a fabrication at a scale of 10s of meters of length are demonstrated. A modular tendon-driven mechanism enables 3-dimensional (3D) motion, and embedded optical guides, electrical wires, and microfluidic channels give rise to multifunctionality. The fibers can perceive and autonomously adapt to their environments, as well as, probe electrical properties, and deliver fluids and mechanical tools to spatially distributed targets.