Hydraulic hydrogel actuators and robots optically and sonically camouflaged in water

Hyunwoo Yuk; Shaoting Lin; Chu Ma; Mahdi Takaffoli; Nicolas X. Fang; Xuanhe Zhao

doi:10.1038/ncomms14230

journal article Open Access Feb 01, 2017

Hydraulic hydrogel actuators and robots optically and sonically camouflaged in water

Hyunwoo Yuk

Shaoting Lin

Chu Ma Mahdi Takaffoli Nicolas X. Fang Xuanhe Zhao

Nature Communications Vol. 8 No. 1 · Springer Science and Business Media LLC

View at Publisher Save 10.1038/ncomms14230

Abstract

AbstractSea animals such as leptocephali develop tissues and organs composed of active transparent hydrogels to achieve agile motions and natural camouflage in water. Hydrogel-based actuators that can imitate the capabilities of leptocephali will enable new applications in diverse fields. However, existing hydrogel actuators, mostly osmotic-driven, are intrinsically low-speed and/or low-force; and their camouflage capabilities have not been explored. Here we show that hydraulic actuations of hydrogels with designed structures and properties can give soft actuators and robots that are high-speed, high-force, and optically and sonically camouflaged in water. The hydrogel actuators and robots can maintain their robustness and functionality over multiple cycles of actuations, owing to the anti-fatigue property of the hydrogel under moderate stresses. We further demonstrate that the agile and transparent hydrogel actuators and robots perform extraordinary functions including swimming, kicking rubber-balls and even catching a live fish in water.

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926

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References

Details

Published: Feb 01, 2017
Vol/Issue: 8(1)
License: View

Authors

Department of Biomedical Engineering Duke University Durham NC 27708 USA; Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Duke University Durham NC 27708 USA

Cite This Article

Hyunwoo Yuk, Shaoting Lin, Chu Ma, et al. (2017). Hydraulic hydrogel actuators and robots optically and sonically camouflaged in water. Nature Communications, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14230

Hydraulic hydrogel actuators and robots optically and sonically camouflaged in water

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