Magnetic Assembly and Swimming of Multiple Ternary Polymer Nanocomposites

초록

Directed assembly of multiple robots promotes their collective behaviors to complete cooperative tasks. We present agile multimodal magnetic assembly and swimming of multiple soft robots under quadrupolar electromagnetic field which can create and control vortex of fluids. Musculoskeletal system-mimetic soft robots are designed with carbon nanotube yarn (CNTY) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-iron particle composite serving as spongy bone and skeletal muscle, respectively. Upon varied rotational frequency of the electromagnetic field, the biomimetic soft robots swim above water by concurrent counterclockwise rectilinear translational motility and clockwise rotational motility. Multiple biomimetic soft robots can transport hundreds of floating microparticles by directional control of fluid vortex achieved by counterclockwise rectilinear translation and clockwise assembled rotation of soft robots. We will further demonstrate transportation of semi-submerged milli-scale cargos, c.a. 80 times heavier than individual soft robots.