Development of Novel Programmable Stimuli-responsive Polymers for Small-scale Soft Robots

自从新一代软的小型机器人问世以来，机器人作为具有刚体和集中大脑的笨重机器的经典观点已经动摇。由于它们的柔软和大小，这种机器人可以在微小的环境中执行一系列微妙的任务。因此，他们有望通过提供有针对性的微创程序，如药物输送、细胞操纵和活组织检查，来彻底改变医疗保健。这些机器人通常由可编程的刺激响应型聚合物制成，具有嵌入式传感和驱动能力，以可编程的方式对外部刺激做出反应，并可以通过不同的技术进行微型化。当今，新型机器人材料和制造方法的开发是小型机器人领域最紧迫的问题之一。刺激响应型聚合物在汽车、电子和生物医学技术等行业中的需求很大。它们在全球市场占有蓬勃发展的份额，复合年增长率约为20%。软机器人和小型机器人是主要依赖此类聚合物的两个领域，增长率分别为~40%和~65%。因此，现在巩固加拿大对这些新兴和竞争激烈的领域的全球贡献是非常及时的。在这个研究计划中，我们的目标是开发智能机器人材料，这些材料概括了生物体的主要特征，如柔软性、能量转换、移动性、学习和适应。这些材料是开发备受追捧的自主机器人的关键。在短期内，我们专注于从液晶网络(LCN)合成新型可编程多刺激响应聚合物，并使用非传统的微添加制造策略来实现其小型化、分子工程和形状改变编程。选择LCN是因为它们对各种刺激的可编程和可逆响应，如热和光，以及微型化的倾向。尽管LCN具有潜力，但由于LCN微型机器人在受限淹水介质中的制造、驱动和操作方面的挑战，LCN尚未在现实世界的应用中实现安全地位。我们将通过开发LCNs和磁性纳米颗粒的多刺激响应复合材料，制造具有本地控制特性的多材料微型机器人，将机器人的运动与机器人功能分离，对机器人部分进行时空控制，以及采用医学上成熟的技术来提供动力、导航和功能，以扩大其适用性，以应对这些挑战。接受该项目培训的学生将受益于独特的多学科研究，使他们成为智能聚合物领域的专家，但在光学、微制造、机器人、控制和仪器等其他学科拥有丰富的知识和经验。这样的培训组合将使他们在研究和在工业界和学术界发挥领导作用方面处于有利地位。

The classical view of robots as bulky machines with rigid body and centralized brain has been shaken since the introduction of new generations of soft small-scale robots. Owing to their softness and size, such robots can perform a range of delicate tasks in tiny environments. Thus, they are expected to revolutionize healthcare by offering targeted and minimally invasive procedures such as drug delivery, cell manipulation, and biopsy. These robots are typically made of programmable stimuli-responsive polymers, which have embedded sensing and actuation capabilities, respond to external stimuli in programmable fashions, and can be miniaturized via different techniques. Today, the development of novel robotic materials and fabrication methods is one of the most pressing issues in small-scale robotics. Stimuli-responsive polymers are in significant demand in industries such as automotive, electronics, and biomedical technologies. They hold a booming share of the global market, with a compound annual growth rate of ~20%. Soft and small-scale robotics are the two fields largely relying on such polymers, with respective growth rates of ~40% and ~65%. Hence, it is extremely timely to consolidate Canada's global contribution to such emerging and highly competitive fields. In this research program, we aim to develop intelligent robotic materials that recapitulate the main features of organisms, such as softness, energy conversion, mobility, learning, and adaptation. Such materials are key to the development of highly sought-after autonomous robots. In the short term, we focus on the synthesis of novel programmable multi-stimuli-responsive polymers from liquid crystal networks (LCNs), and their miniaturization, molecular engineering, and shape-change programming using unconventional micro-additive manufacturing strategies. LCNs are chosen for their programmable and reversible response to various stimuli, such as heat and light, and proclivity for miniaturization. Despite their potential, LCNs have not yet realized a secure position in real-world applications due to challenges in the fabrication, actuation, and manipulation of LCN microrobots in confined flooded media. We will tackle these challenges by developing multi-stimuli-responsive composites of LCNs and magnetic nanoparticles, making multi-material microrobots with locally controlled properties, decoupling robotic locomotion from robotic functions, spatiotemporal control over parts of robots, and employing medically established technologies for their powering, navigation, and function to expand their applicability. Students trained in this program will benefit from unique multidisciplinary research making them experts in the field of smart polymers but with vast knowledge and experience in other disciplines like optics, microfabrication, robotics, control, and instrumentation. Such a training portfolio will put them in a strong position for research and leadership roles in industry and academia.