Wireless Actuation for Soft Electronics-free Robots
Wireless Actuation for Soft Electronics-free Robots
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DOI：
10.1145/3570361.3592494
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发表时间：
2023-07
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Jingxian Wang;Yiwen Song;Mason Zadan;Yuyi Shen;V. Chen;C. Majidi;Swarun Kumar
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作者：
Jingxian Wang;Yiwen Song;Mason Zadan;Yuyi Shen;V. Chen;C. Majidi;Swarun Kumar
本文提出了一种新的原语，允许使用无线能量在完全非视距环境中对软机器人进行物理控制 - 我们称之为无线驱动的过程。软机器人完全由软材料组成，不含任何刚性部件，是可以改变其形状的高度灵活的平台。本文考虑了一类由液晶弹性体 (LCE) 组成的特定软机器人，它们完全不含电子元件，并且在加热到 60°C 时会改变形状。传统上，此类机器人系统必须位于光源（例如红外线）的视线范围内才能移动，或者需要外部电源进行焦耳加热，并且通常需要数十秒才能加热。我们推出了 WASER，这是一种新型的基于射频的加热平台，它允许无电子机器人快速（几秒钟内）并可能在非视线范围内启动。 WASER 通过无线系统和材料科学方面的创新实现了这一目标。在无线方面，WASER 开发了一种新的盲波束形成解决方案，可以以精细的空间粒度引导高功率无线能量，而无需机器人上的电子设备提供反馈。在材料科学方面，WASER 展示了热响应形状变形和能量收集材料功能，可实现快速无线加热。我们实施并评估 WASER 并展示多种形状变形能力。
This paper proposes a new primitive that allows soft robots to be physically controlled in a completely non-line-of-sight context using wireless energy - a process we call wireless actuation. Soft robots, which are composed entirely of soft materials and exclude any rigid components, are highly flexible platforms that can change their shape. This paper considers a specific class of soft robots composed of liquid-crystal elastomers (LCE) that are entirely electronics-free and engineered to change shape when heated to 60 °C. Traditionally, such robotic systems must be in line-of-sight of a light source, such as infrared to be moved, or require an external power supply for Joule heating and often take several tens of seconds to heat. We present WASER, a novel RF-based heating platform that allows electronics-free robots to be actuated rapidly (within a few seconds) and potentially in non-line-of-sight. WASER achieves this through innovations in both wireless systems and material science. On the wireless front, WASER develops a new blind beamforming solution that directs high-power wireless energy at fine spatial granularity without electronics on the robot to provide feedback. On the material science front, WASER exhibits heat-responsive shape-morphing and energy-harvesting material functionalities that allow for rapid wireless heating. We implement and evaluate WASER and demonstrate diverse shape-morphing capabilities.