Intelligent Shape-Morphing Micromachines

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Abstract

Intelligent machines are capable of switching shape configurations to adapt to changes in dynamic environments and thus have offered the potentials in many applications such as precision medicine, lab on a chip, and bioengineering. Even though the developments of smart materials and advanced micro/nanomanufacturing are flouring, how to achieve intelligent shape-morphing machines at micro/nanoscales is still significantly challenging due to the lack of design methods and strategies especially for small-scale shape transformations. This review is aimed at summarizing the principles and methods for the construction of intelligent shape-morphing micromachines by introducing the dimensions, modes, realization methods, and applications of shape-morphing micromachines. Meanwhile, this review highlights the advantages and challenges in shape transformations by comparing micromachines with the macroscale counterparts and presents the future outlines for the next generation of intelligent shape-morphing micromachines.

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Biomimetic 4D printing.

A. Sydney Gladman, Elisabetta Matsumoto, Ralph G Nuzzo … (2016)

Shape-morphing systems can be found in many areas, including smart textiles, autonomous robotics, biomedical devices, drug delivery and tissue engineering. The natural analogues of such systems are exemplified by nastic plant motions, where a variety of organs such as tendrils, bracts, leaves and flowers respond to environmental stimuli (such as humidity, light or touch) by varying internal turgor, which leads to dynamic conformations governed by the tissue composition and microstructural anisotropy of cell walls. Inspired by these botanical systems, we printed composite hydrogel architectures that are encoded with localized, anisotropic swelling behaviour controlled by the alignment of cellulose fibrils along prescribed four-dimensional printing pathways. When combined with a minimal theoretical framework that allows us to solve the inverse problem of designing the alignment patterns for prescribed target shapes, we can programmably fabricate plant-inspired architectures that change shape on immersion in water, yielding complex three-dimensional morphologies.

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Printing ferromagnetic domains for untethered fast-transforming soft materials

Hyunwoo Yuk, Xuanhe Zhao, Shawn A Chester … (2018)

Soft materials capable of transforming between three-dimensional (3D) shapes in response to stimuli such as light, heat, solvent, electric and magnetic fields have applications in diverse areas such as flexible electronics1,2, soft robotics3,4 and biomedicine5-7. In particular, magnetic fields offer a safe and effective manipulation method for biomedical applications, which typically require remote actuation in enclosed and confined spaces8-10. With advances in magnetic field control 11 , magnetically responsive soft materials have also evolved from embedding discrete magnets 12 or incorporating magnetic particles 13 into soft compounds to generating nonuniform magnetization profiles in polymeric sheets14,15. Here we report 3D printing of programmed ferromagnetic domains in soft materials that enable fast transformations between complex 3D shapes via magnetic actuation. Our approach is based on direct ink writing 16 of an elastomer composite containing ferromagnetic microparticles. By applying a magnetic field to the dispensing nozzle while printing 17 , we reorient particles along the applied field to impart patterned magnetic polarity to printed filaments. This method allows us to program ferromagnetic domains in complex 3D-printed soft materials, enabling a set of previously inaccessible modes of transformation, such as remotely controlled auxetic behaviours of mechanical metamaterials with negative Poisson's ratios. The actuation speed and power density of our printed soft materials with programmed ferromagnetic domains are orders of magnitude greater than existing 3D-printed active materials. We further demonstrate diverse functions derived from complex shape changes, including reconfigurable soft electronics, a mechanical metamaterial that can jump and a soft robot that crawls, rolls, catches fast-moving objects and transports a pharmaceutical dose.

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Small-scale soft-bodied robot with multimodal locomotion

Wenqi Hu, Guo Lum, Massimo Mastrangeli … (2018)

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Author and article information

Contributors

Huiling Duan:

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1478-5649

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Research (Wash D C)

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Research (Wash D C)

Journal ID (publisher-id): RESEARCH

Title: Research

Publisher: AAAS

ISSN (Electronic): 2639-5274

Publication date Collection: 2021

Publication date (Electronic): 12 May 2021

Volume: 2021

Electronic Location Identifier: 9806463

Affiliations

¹State Key Laboratory for Turbulence and Complex Systems, Department of Mechanics and Engineering Science, BIC-ESAT, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

²CAPT, HEDPS, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China