The next generation of robots will be shape-shifters

Date:
March 11, 2022
Source:
University of Bath
Summary:
Physicists have discovered a new way to coat soft robots
in materials that allow them to move and function in a more
purposeful way.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Physicists have discovered a new way to coat soft robots in materials
that allow them to move and function in a more purposeful way. The
research, led by the UK's University of Bath, is described today in
Science Advances.


========================================================================== Authors of the study believe their breakthrough modelling on 'active
matter' could mark a turning point in the design of robots. With further development of the concept, it may be possible to determine the shape,
movement and behaviour of a soft solid not by its natural elasticity
but by human-controlled activity on its surface.

The surface of an ordinary soft material always shrinks into a
sphere. Think of the way water beads into droplets: the beading occurs
because the surface of liquids and other soft material naturally contracts
into the smallest surface area possible -- i.e. a sphere. But active
matter can be designed to work against this tendency. An example of this
in action would be a rubber ball that's wrapped in a layer of nano-robots, where the robots are programmed to work in unison to distort the ball
into a new, pre-determined shape (say, a star).

It is hoped that active matter will lead to a new generation of machines
whose function will come from the bottom up. So, instead of being governed
by a central controller (the way today's robotic arms are controlled
in factories), these new machines would be made from many individual
active units that cooperate to determine the machine's movement and
function. This is akin to the workings of our own biological tissues,
such as the fibres in heart muscle.

Using this idea, scientists could design soft machines with arms made
of flexible materials powered by robots embedded in their surface. They
could also tailor the size and shape of drug delivery capsules, by coating
the surface of nanoparticles in a responsive, active material.. This in
turn could have a dramatic effect on how a drug interacts with cells in
the body.

Work on active matter challenges the assumption that the energetic cost
of the surface of a liquid or soft solid must always be positive because
a certain amount of energy is always necessary to create a surface.

Dr Jack Binysh, study first author, said: "Active matter makes us look
at the familiar rules of nature -- rules like the fact that surface
tension has to be positive -- in a new light. Seeing what happens
if we break these rules, and how we can harness the results, is an
exciting place to be doing research." Corresponding author Dr Anton
Souslov added: "This study is an important proof of concept and has many
useful implications. For instance, future technology could produce soft
robots that are far squishier and better at picking up and manipulating delicate materials." For the study, the researchers developed theory
and simulations that described a 3D soft solid whose surface experiences
active stresses. They found that these active stresses expand the surface
of the material, pulling the solid underneath along with it, and causing a global shape change. The researchers found that the precise shape adopted
by the solid could then be tailored by altering the elastic properties
of the material.

In the next phase of this work -- which has already begun -- the
researchers will apply this general principle to design specific robots,
such as soft arms or self-swimming materials. They will also look at
collective behaviour -- for example, what happens when you have many
active solids, all packed together.

This work was a collaboration between the Universities of Bath and
Birmingham.

It was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
(EPSRC) through New Investigator Award no. EP/T000961/1.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Bath. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Related Multimedia:
*
Wrapping_an_elastic_ball_in_a_layer_of_tiny_robots_allows_researchers_to
program_shape_and_behavior ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Jack Binysh, Thomas R. Wilks, Anton Souslov. Active
elastocapillarity in
soft solids with negative surface tension. Science Advances, 2022;
8 (10) DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abk3079 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220311141417.htm

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