Fast responsive soft bio-mimetic robotic actuators

Soft robotics is an exciting new paradigm in engineering that challenges researchers to re-examine the materiials and mechanisms to make more versatile, life-like and bio-compatible actuator for human interaction. A wide class of materials come under t his category with the stimuli being heat, light, electricity or magnetism. However, the current interest in such materials focuses on achieving flex ible actuators which are amenable for easy processing. It provide the feasibility of smart actuating devices, that could undergo intelligent sh ape change and even biomimetic motion in response to external stimuli such as electric, thermal, photo etc. The goal of this work is to end ow 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 na noparticles to exploit the excellent thermal response of certain CNPs. The study demonstrates that for a given type of polymer base, the m agnitude 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.