Pukyong National University Develops Autonomous Movement Soft Robot Using LCE

The research team led by Professor Daeseok Kim from the Department of Polymer Engineering at Pukyong National University has developed a soft robot that autonomously moves using a new material called Liquid Crystal Elastomer (LCE).

Professor Kim, along with master's student Youngbin Kim from the same department and Professor Shuyang from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, conducted joint research to create a soft robot that achieves autonomous and sustainable motion through a filament structure made of the reactive polymer material LCE.

Soft robots refer to robots made from flexible materials rather than metal, designed for use in fields closely related to human life or under hazardous conditions.

LCE, which can be used for soft robots, is a smart material that changes shape in response to external stimuli such as heat, light, or electromagnetic fields, and is attracting attention in the field of flexible material-based actuation systems.

However, the contraction-relaxation process in response to stimuli was very slow, taking from several seconds to tens of seconds, and the output, which is the strength of the movement, was also low.

Professor Kim’s research team produced filaments from LCE and connected these filaments to design a new geometric connection structure in the form of loops, a type of actuator that had not existed before.

When the research team applied thermal stimuli to this actuator, each filament contracted and relaxed, and the shape-changing movements influenced the connected filaments, inducing a rotational motion of the actuator. The team named this phenomenon ‘snap-through.’

An image showing the self-regulating actuation of a loop-shaped liquid crystal elastomer filament structure.

This actuator can produce continuous, much faster, and higher output compared to applying stimuli to conventional LCE alone, making it expected to be used as an actuator in various devices such as soft robots.

Additionally, it can be driven by small thermal stimuli, which means energy can be saved when operating in environments where heat loss occurs.

Professor Daeseok Kim stated, “While synthesizing new materials is important for creating soft robots based on liquid crystal elastomers, this research demonstrates that entirely new physical phenomena can be induced simply through structuring well-established materials and studying geometric models.”

The research paper titled “Autonomous, untethered gait-like synchronization of lobed loops made from liquid crystal elastomer fibers via spontaneous snap-through” was recently published in the international journal Science Advances (IF: 14.98).

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