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Stretchable pumps for soft machines

Author

Listed:
  • Vito Cacucciolo

    (School of Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL))

  • Jun Shintake

    (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
    University of Electro-Communications)

  • Yu Kuwajima

    (Shibaura Institute of Technology)

  • Shingo Maeda

    (Shibaura Institute of Technology)

  • Dario Floreano

    (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL))

  • Herbert Shea

    (School of Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL))

Abstract

Machines made of soft materials bridge life sciences and engineering1. Advances in soft materials have led to skin-like sensors and muscle-like actuators for soft robots and wearable devices1–3. Flexible or stretchable counterparts of most key mechatronic components have been developed4,5, principally using fluidically driven systems6–8; other reported mechanisms include electrostatic9–12, stimuli-responsive gels13,14 and thermally responsive materials such as liquid metals15–17 and shape-memory polymers18. Despite the widespread use of fluidic actuation, there have been few soft counterparts of pumps or compressors, limiting the portability and autonomy of soft machines4,8. Here we describe a class of soft-matter bidirectional pumps based on charge-injection electrohydrodynamics19. These solid-state pumps are flexible, stretchable, modular, scalable, quiet and rapid. By integrating the pump into a glove, we demonstrate wearable active thermal management. Embedding the pump in an inflatable structure produces a self-contained fluidic ‘muscle’. The stretchable pumps have potential uses in wearable laboratory-on-a-chip and microfluidic sensors, thermally active clothing and autonomous soft robots.

Suggested Citation

  • Vito Cacucciolo & Jun Shintake & Yu Kuwajima & Shingo Maeda & Dario Floreano & Herbert Shea, 2019. "Stretchable pumps for soft machines," Nature, Nature, vol. 572(7770), pages 516-519, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:572:y:2019:i:7770:d:10.1038_s41586-019-1479-6
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1479-6
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Dehai Yu & Zhonghao Wang & Guidong Chi & Qiubo Zhang & Junxian Fu & Maolin Li & Chuanke Liu & Quan Zhou & Zhen Li & Du Chen & Zhenghe Song & Zhizhu He, 2024. "Hydraulic-driven adaptable morphing active-cooling elastomer with bioinspired bicontinuous phases," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Hu Shi & Kun Tan & Boyang Zhang & Wenqiao Liu, 2022. "Review on Research Progress of Hydraulic Powered Soft Actuators," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-15, November.
    3. Chao Zhang & Zhuang Zhang & Yun Peng & Yanlin Zhang & Siqi An & Yunjie Wang & Zirui Zhai & Yan Xu & Hanqing Jiang, 2023. "Plug & play origami modules with all-purpose deformation modes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    4. Guorui Li & Tuck-Whye Wong & Benjamin Shih & Chunyu Guo & Luwen Wang & Jiaqi Liu & Tao Wang & Xiaobo Liu & Jiayao Yan & Baosheng Wu & Fajun Yu & Yunsai Chen & Yiming Liang & Yaoting Xue & Chengjun Wan, 2023. "Bioinspired soft robots for deep-sea exploration," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Jun Kyu Choe & Junsoo Kim & Hyeonseo Song & Joonbum Bae & Jiyun Kim, 2023. "A soft, self-sensing tensile valve for perceptive soft robots," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    6. Yeongju Jung & Kangkyu Kwon & Jinwoo Lee & Seung Hwan Ko, 2024. "Untethered soft actuators for soft standalone robotics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-19, December.
    7. Roberto De Fazio & Vincenzo Mariano Mastronardi & Matteo Petruzzi & Massimo De Vittorio & Paolo Visconti, 2022. "Human–Machine Interaction through Advanced Haptic Sensors: A Piezoelectric Sensory Glove with Edge Machine Learning for Gesture and Object Recognition," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-42, December.
    8. Wei Tang & Yiding Zhong & Huxiu Xu & Kecheng Qin & Xinyu Guo & Yu Hu & Pingan Zhu & Yang Qu & Dong Yan & Zhaoyang Li & Zhongdong Jiao & Xujun Fan & Huayong Yang & Jun Zou, 2023. "Self-protection soft fluidic robots with rapid large-area self-healing capabilities," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.

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