Soft Robotics

This description of “soft robotics” is not intended to be a conventional review, in the sense of a comprehensive technical summary of a developing field. Rather, its objective is to describe soft robotics as a new field—one that offers opportunities to chemists and materials scientists who like to m...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Angewandte Chemie (International ed.) Vol. 57; no. 16; pp. 4258 - 4273
Main Author: Whitesides, George M.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 09.04.2018
Wiley
Edition:International ed. in English
Subjects:
actuation
Actuators
bio-inspired
catalysis (homogeneous)
charge transport
Chemists
materials and chemistry by design
materials chemistry
Materials science
mesostructured materials
Object motion
OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
Robotics
Soft robotics
solar (photovoltaic)
synthesis (novel materials)
synthesis (self-assembly)
materials chemistry
actuation
soft robotics
ISSN:1433-7851, 1521-3773, 1521-3773
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This description of “soft robotics” is not intended to be a conventional review, in the sense of a comprehensive technical summary of a developing field. Rather, its objective is to describe soft robotics as a new field—one that offers opportunities to chemists and materials scientists who like to make “things” and to work with macroscopic objects that move and exert force. It will give one (personal) view of what soft actuators and robots are, and how this class of soft devices fits into the more highly developed field of conventional “hard” robotics. It will also suggest how and why soft robotics is more than simply a minor technical “tweak” on hard robotics and propose a unique role for chemistry, and materials science, in this field. Soft robotics is, at its core, intellectually and technologically different from hard robotics, both because it has different objectives and uses and because it relies on the properties of materials to assume many of the roles played by sensors, actuators, and controllers in hard robotics. Robotics is at an early stage of technological development, and it's when machines and humans begin to work together and/or to compete that things change and get really interesting. Soft robotics will be an essential part of that change. Chemistry and materials science should not miss the opportunity to be a part of it.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
ObjectType-Review-3
content type line 23
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
SC0000989
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
ISSN:1433-7851
1521-3773
1521-3773
DOI:10.1002/anie.201800907