Robotic Pick‐and‐Place Operations in Multifunctional Liquid Crystal Elastomers

摘要

Pick‐and‐place operations for transporting objects precisely to a target position are a prominent function of (soft‐) robotic systems. Therefore, there is great interest in industry to improve the characteristic gripping, holding, and releasing methods involved in pick‐and‐place operations. Within living organisms such as octopi, nature demonstrates that multiple types of conjointly working actuators are required for flexible pick‐and‐place operations. Herein, a multifunctional soft robotic arm is developed, capable of transporting an object within 3D space. The soft robotic arm consists of two structural actuators (rotating base and lifting unit) and a suction cup‐based gripper. The structural actuator acts as both the load bearing and actuating components of the robotic system. Yet, the gripper is the crucial innovation within the robotic arm. A cephalopod‐limb‐inspired gripper functioning through the reversible flat‐to‐conical deformation of azimuthally aligned liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) films is proposed. The pressure‐generating actuation mechanism of the gripper means that no external device is needed to operate the gripping function. Akin to natural systems, the in‐tandem operation of the actuators in the soft robotic arm allows for multifactored tasks. Yet, the design achieves this through the use of a single material, which is not innate in natural archetypes.