Untethered Miniature Soft Robots

Preface INTRODUCTION TO UNTETHERED MINIATURE SOFT ROBOTS Working Mechanisms of Untethered Soft Robots Fabrication Methods of Untethered Soft Robots Applications of Miniature Soft Robots Scope and Layout of the Book SILICONE ELASTOMER BASED MINIATURE SOFT ROBOTS Introduction Soft Elastomer Based Robots with Programmable Magnetization Profiles Reprogrammable Soft Machines Multi-Stimuli Responsive Transformation of Magneto-Elastomer Based Soft Structures Multimodal and Bioinspired Locomotion Adopted for Elastomer Based Robots Potential Biomedical Applications of Miniature Magnetic Soft Machines Fluidic Pumping by the Magneto-Elastomers Other Potential Applications of the Magneto-Elastomers Summary CARBON-BASED MINIATURE SOFT ROBOTS WITH ROLLED-UP CONCEPT Introduction The Choices of Carbon-Based Materials The Working Mechanisms of Carbon-Based Materials The Programming Shape Changes of Actuators and their Applications Summary HYDROGELS-BASED MINIATURE SOFT ROBOTS Introduction Fabrication of Reconfigurable Hydrogel Micromachines Modular Design of Reconfigurable Soft Robots based on 4D Microscale Building Blocks Application of Reconfigurable Soft Robots Summary LIQUID CRYSTAL NETWORK AND ELASTOMER-BASED MINIATURE SOFT ROBOTS Introduction Stimuli-Responsiveness based on Programmed Director Field Magnetic Liquid Elastomer Composites for Miniature Machines Summary FLEXIBLE FERROFLUID AS SOFT ROBOTS AGENTS Introduction Description of Ferrofluids Deformation Behaviors of FDRs Applications of FDRs Summary CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS Other Functional Materials used for Miniature Soft Robots Multi-Material Integration Strategies Multifunctional Integration for Miniature Soft Robots with Perception Capabilities Perspectives toward Intelligent and Autonomous Soft Robots

Li Zhang is Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering (MAE) and Professor by Courtesy in the Department of Surgery at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He is also a director of the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)-CUHK Joint Laboratory of Robotics and Intelligent Systems. Before he joined CUHK as Assistant Professor in 2012, he worked in Prof. Bradley Nelson's group as a postdoc and then as a senior scientist and lecturer in the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems (IRIS), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland. Dr. Zhang's main research interests include small-scale robotics and their applications for translational biomedicine. Jiachen Zhang is Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at City University of Hong Kong (CityU). Before he joined CityU in 2021, he worked in Prof. Metin Sitti?s group as a postdoc and simultaneously a Humboldt postdoc fellow in the Physical Intelligence department at Max Planck Institute of Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS), Germany. Dr. Zhang?s main research interests include magnetically controlled miniature soft-bodied robots and their biomedical applications. Neng Xia received the B. Eng. degree from Central South University, Changsha, China, and the M. S. degree from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, in 2016 and 2019, respectively, both in mechanical engineering. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on magnetic soft robots, hydrogel materials, and 3D printing. Yue Dong received his Ph.D. degree in 2019 from the College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering from July 2019 to the present, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research interests include programmable actuators, soft