Climbing Plant-Inspired Multi-Responsive Biomimetic Actuator with Transitioning Complex Surfaces

Bionic robots have great potential in healthcare, rescue, and surveillance. However, most soft actuators can only realize one or two deformation modes, which largely limit the application in complex environments. This study develops electric/Infrared (IR) light/magnetic multi-field coupling soft actuators by combining liquid crystal elastomers (LCE), liquid metal (LM) and magnetic Ecoflex (Mecoflex). Originated from the synergistic effect of the differed thermal expansion and the liquid crystal phase transition, the actuator can realize outstanding large deformations (bending angle > 300°) at ultra-low voltages (1.0 V). In addition, by designing the molecular orientation in the LCE layer and programming the magnetization in the Mecoflex layer, the bending or helical bending deformations can be controlled under electric/magnetic and IR light/magnetic coupling actuation. Based on the complex deformation capability, bionic climbing plants and two kinds of quadrupedal robots are developed. With the structural design of the quadrupedal robots, they can flexibly switch deformations to pass through complex environments by controlling the externally applied coupling fields, which demonstrates their broad potential in practical applications.