Biology and bioinspiration of soft robotics : actuation, sensing, and system integration

Ren, L; Li, B; Wei, G; Wang, K; Song, Z; Wei, Y; Ren, L; Liu, Q

Abstract

Organisms in nature grow with senses, nervous, and actuation systems coordinated in ingenious ways to sustain metabolism and other essential life activities. The understanding of biological structures and functions guide the construction of soft robotics with unprecedented performances. However, despite the progress in soft robotics, there still remains a big gap between man-made soft robotics and natural lives in terms of autonomy, adaptability, self-repair, durability, energy efficiency, etc. Here, the actuation and sensing strategies in the natural biological world are summarized along with their man-made counterparts applied in soft robotics. The development trends of bioinspired soft robotics toward closed loop and embodiment are proposed. Challenges for obtaining autonomous soft robotics similar to natural organisms are outlined to provide a perspective in this field. [Abstract copyright: © 2021.]

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Sep 1, 2021
• Publication Date: Sep 24, 2021
• Deposit Date: Oct 12, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 12, 2021
• Journal: iScience
• Print ISSN: 2589-0042
• Electronic ISSN: 2589-0042
• Publisher: Cell Press
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 9
• Pages: 103075
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.103075
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.103075
• Related Public URLs: http://www.cell.com/iscience/home
• Additional Information: Additional Information : ** From PubMed via Jisc Publications Router **Journal IDs: eissn 2589-0042 **Article IDs: pubmed: 34568796; pii: S2589-0042(21)01043-9; pmc: PMC8449090 **History: published 01-09-2021; Funders : National Natural Science Foundation of China;National Key Research and Development Program of China; Projects : 91848204;91948302; Grant Number: 91848204 and 91948302; Grant Number: 2018YFC2001300