Robotic Pick-and-Place Operations in Multifunctional Liquid Crystal Elastomers

Pick-and-place operations for transporting objects precisely to a target position are a prominent function of (soft-) robotic systems. Therefore, there is great interest in industry to improve the characteristic gripping, holding, and releasing methods involved in pick-and-place operations. Within living organisms such as
octopi, nature demonstrates that multiple types of conjointly working actuators are required for flexible pick-and-place operations. Herein, a multifunctional soft robotic arm is developed, capable of transporting an object within 3D space. The
soft robotic arm consists of two structural actuators (rotating base and lifting unit) and a suction cup-based gripper. The structural actuator acts as both the load bearing and actuating components of the robotic system. Yet, the gripper is the crucial innovation within the robotic arm. A cephalopod-limb-inspired gripper
functioning through the reversible flat-to-conical deformation of azimuthally aligned liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) films is proposed. The pressure-generating actuation mechanism of the gripper means that no external device is needed to operate the gripping function. Akin to natural systems, the in-tandem operation of the actuators in the soft robotic arm allows for multifactored tasks. Yet, the design achieves this through the use of a single material, which is not innate in natural archetypes.