loading page

Leech-Inspired Shape-Encodable Liquid Metal Robots for Reconfigurable Circuit Welding and Transient Electronics
  • +6
  • Ben Wang,
  • Yongzhu Tan,
  • Baofeng Zhang,
  • Fengtong Ji,
  • Guanghui Lv,
  • Chengfeng Pan,
  • Stephan Handschuh‐Wang,
  • Li Zhang,
  • Xuechang Zhou
Ben Wang
Shenzhen University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
Yongzhu Tan
Shenzhen University
Baofeng Zhang
Shenzhen University
Fengtong Ji
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Guanghui Lv
Shenzhen University
Chengfeng Pan
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Stephan Handschuh‐Wang
Shenzhen University
Li Zhang
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Xuechang Zhou
Shenzhen University

Abstract

Deformability and self-adaptability are important for soft robots in order to deal with uncertain and varying situations and environments during movement and navigation. Droplet-based robots are great candidates to travel inside narrow and constrained spaces without damaging the interfaces due to their extreme deformability and liquid nature, which enables smooth contact between robots and target spaces. Here, we propose magnetic liquid metal droplet robots, comprising liquid metal and carbonyl iron, that can perform reversible telescopic deformation, bending, and on-demand locomotion. The magnetic liquid metal-based robots can perform on demand and reversible coalescence and splitting by intricately applying magnetic fields. Importantly, the liquid metal robot can perform phase transition to fix the desired shape after the programmable shape encoding. The liquid metal-based soft robots can serve as dynamic and recyclable switches for complex circuits, and are capable of repairing damaged sections of microcircuits by remote actuation, controllable coalescence, and on-demand circuit welding. The technology provides a new application scenario of droplet-based soft robots for on-demand circuit welding and transient recyclable electronics.
Corresponding author(s) Email:  X.Z.: [email protected]; L.Z.: [email protected]; B.W.: [email protected]
02 Apr 2022Submitted to AISY Interactive Papers
04 May 2022Published in AISY Interactive Papers
Sep 2022Published in Advanced Intelligent Systems volume 4 issue 9 on pages 2200080. 10.1002/aisy.202200080