Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Magnetic hydrogel soft robots have shown great potential in various fields. However, their contact dynamic behaviors are complex, considering stick-slip motion at the contact interface, and lack accurate computational models to analyze them. This paper improves the numerical computational method for hydrogel materials with magneto-mechanical coupling effect, analyses the inchworm-like contact motion of the biomimetic bipedal magnetic hydrogel soft robot, and designs and optimizes the robot's structure. In the constitutive model, a correction factor representing the influence of the direction of magnetic flux density on the domain density has been introduced. The magnetic part of the Helmholtz free energy has been redefined as the magnetic potential energy, which can be used to explain the phenomenon that the material will still deform when the magnetic flux density is parallel to the external magnetic field. The accuracy of the simulation is verified by comparing numerical solutions with experimental results for a magnetic hydrogel cantilever beam. Furthermore, employing the present methods, the locomotion of a magnetic hydrogel soft robot modeled after the inchworm's gait is simulated, and the influence of the coefficient of friction on its movement is discussed. The numerical results clearly display the control effect of the external magnetic field on the robot's motion.
Source: Gels
DOI: 10.3390/gels11010020
Authors: Yunian Shen, Yiming Zou
Institution: Nanjing University of Science and Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Biomedical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,955
Awards: G4795132031, G6602523782
OpenAlex ID: W4405943683