Embodying physical intelligence in soft robots for autonomy and intelligence

Autonomy is crucial for robotic applications in search and rescue, surveillance, and patrol missions. This is particularly true for the emerging field of soft robotics that are constructed of soft materials. One of the unresolved grand challenges is to create intelligent autonomous soft robots that can intelligently interact with and adapt to challenging and changing environments without external controls and any human intervention. To address the challenge, in this talk, I will discuss integrating mechanical intelligence with materials intelligence in liquid crystal elastomer-based soft active structures for achieving autonomous motions and even self-decision-making capabilities in soft robots. Two examples will be discussed. One is to utilizing a twisted structure to achieve thermal-actuated self-navigation through complex confined spaces such as mazes. The self-navigation is achieved via self-snapping and self-turning capabilities when interacting with an obstacle. The other is to utilizing a wavy ring structure to achieve thermal- or photothermal-actuated self-dancing motion and autonomous directional locomotion. The wavy ring structure enables self-sustained snapping for continuous flipping motion. Tuning the geometric asymmetry in the wavy structures renders autonomous directional motion with both a controlled moving direction and tunable moving speeds. We showed that the wavy ring is also capable of actively adapting the soft ring shape to self-navigating through a confined space that is much narrower than its body size. The mechanics underpinning the autonomous motion will also be discussed.