Microscale Soft Robotics (eBook)

Jaeyoun (Jay) Kim is the recipient of the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Award (2010). He also received the Warren B. Boast Undergraduate Teaching Award (2008), Harpole-Pentair Developing Faculty Award (2009-2010), and Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship (2009). His current research interests include unconventional MEMS, bio-inspired optics, and plasmonics. He is affiliated with Iowa State University.

Preface 6
Contents 7
Acronyms 9
1 Introduction 10
2 Motivations 13
2.1 Small 13
2.2 Soft 15
2.3 Safe 17
3 Enabling Technologies 19
3.1 Elastomers 19
3.1.1 PDMS 19
3.1.2 Beneficial Properties 20
3.1.3 Shortcomings 23
3.1.4 Parylene 24
3.1.5 Parylene C 24
3.1.6 Shortcomings 25
3.2 Unconventional Soft Lithography 26
Case Study 1: Elastomeric Micropillar 29
3.3 Deformable Building Blocks 31
3.3.1 Electrical Interface 31
3.3.2 Optical Interface 33
3.3.3 Sensors 36
3.3.4 Actuators 37
3.4 Bio-Inspiration and Bio-Mimicry 37
3.4.1 For Making Small Robots 38
3.4.2 For Small and Soft Robots 40
Case Study 2: Micropillar Wind Sensor 42
3.5 Shape Engineering 46
4 Soft Robotic Micro-Tentacle: A Case Study 47
4.1 Overview 47
4.2 Conception by Bio-Inspiration 49
4.3 Realization by Unconventional Shaping of PDMS 50
4.4 Spiraling by Shape Engineering 55
4.4.1 Hump-Enabled Spiraling 55
4.4.2 Theoretical Framework 56
4.4.3 Analysis of Hump Action 57
4.4.4 Experimental Validation 60
4.5 Addressing Motivations 61
4.5.1 S1: Small 61
4.5.2 S2: Soft 62
4.5.3 S3: Safe 63
4.6 Conclusion on Case Study 66
5 Current Progress 67
5.1 Overview 67
5.2 Building Blocks 68
5.2.1 Actuators 68
5.2.2 Sensors 73
5.2.3 End-Effectors 76
5.3 Mid-Level Integration 80
5.3.1 Integration with Microfluidics/Bio-MEMS 80
5.3.2 Integration with Optics 81
5.4 Microscale Autonomous Soft Machines 83
5.4.1 Microfludic Feedback and Autonomy 83
5.4.2 Opto-Mechanical Feedback 84
6 Towards Full-Scale Integration and Beyond 87
6.1 Fully Integrated Microscale Soft Robots 87
6.2 Agenda 1: Get More from Nature 89
6.3 Agenda 2: Achieve Self-Sufficiency 94
6.4 Agenda 3: Refine Material and Fabrication Technologies 95
6.5 Target on Horizon: Embedded Intelligence 97
6.6 Targets over the Horizon 98
References 100
Index 112