Untethered Miniature Soft Robots – Materials, Fabrications, and Applications

Li Zhang is Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering and Professor by Courtesy in the Department of Surgery at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK).
Jiachen Zhang is Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at City University of Hong Kong (CityU).
Neng Xia is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK).
Yue Dong is Associate Professor in the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Intelligent Morphing Mechanisms and Adaptive Robotics, School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen (HITSZ), China.

Preface INTRODUCTION TO UNTETHERED MINIATURE SOFT ROBOTS Working Mechanisms of Untethered Soft Robots Fabrication Methods of Untethered Soft Robots Applications of Miniature Soft Robots Scope and Layout of the Book SILICONE ELASTOMER BASED MINIATURE SOFT ROBOTS Introduction Soft Elastomer Based Robots with Programmable Magnetization Profiles Reprogrammable Soft Machines Multi-Stimuli Responsive Transformation of Magneto-Elastomer Based Soft Structures Multimodal and Bioinspired Locomotion Adopted for Elastomer Based Robots Potential Biomedical Applications of Miniature Magnetic Soft Machines Fluidic Pumping by the Magneto-Elastomers Other Potential Applications of the Magneto-Elastomers Summary CARBON-BASED MINIATURE SOFT ROBOTS WITH ROLLED-UP CONCEPT Introduction The Choices of Carbon-Based Materials The Working Mechanisms of Carbon-Based Materials The Programming Shape Changes of Actuators and their Applications Summary HYDROGELS-BASED MINIATURE SOFT ROBOTS Introduction Fabrication of Reconfigurable Hydrogel Micromachines Modular Design of Reconfigurable Soft Robots based on 4D Microscale Building Blocks Application of Reconfigurable Soft Robots Summary LIQUID CRYSTAL NETWORK AND ELASTOMER-BASED MINIATURE SOFT ROBOTS Introduction Stimuli-Responsiveness based on Programmed Director Field Magnetic Liquid Elastomer Composites for Miniature Machines Summary FLEXIBLE FERROFLUID AS SOFT ROBOTS AGENTS Introduction Description of Ferrofluids Deformation Behaviors of FDRs Applications of FDRs Summary CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS Other Functional Materials used for Miniature Soft Robots Multi-Material Integration Strategies Multifunctional Integration for Miniature Soft Robots with Perception Capabilities Perspectives toward Intelligent and Autonomous Soft Robots