• About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Cookie policy (EU)
  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Video
  • Write for us
Today Headline
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • POLITICS
    • News for today
    • Borisov news
  • FINANCE
    • Business
    • Insurance
  • Video
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • ENTERPRISE
  • LIFESTYLE
    • TRAVEL
    • HEALTH
    • ENTERTAINMENT
  • AUTOMOTIVE
  • SPORTS
  • Travel and Tourism
  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • POLITICS
    • News for today
    • Borisov news
  • FINANCE
    • Business
    • Insurance
  • Video
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • ENTERPRISE
  • LIFESTYLE
    • TRAVEL
    • HEALTH
    • ENTERTAINMENT
  • AUTOMOTIVE
  • SPORTS
  • Travel and Tourism
No Result
View All Result
TodayHeadline
No Result
View All Result

New shape-shifting material can move like a robot

July 20, 2022
in Technology
0
New shape-shifting material can move like a robot
0
SHARES
8
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


New shape-shifting material can move like a robot

The UNSW team’s smart textile enables fabric reconfiguration which produces shape-morphing structures such as this butterfly and flower that can move using hydraulics. Credit: University of New South Wales

Engineers have developed a new class of smart textiles that can shape-shift and turn a two-dimensional material into 3D structures.

The team from UNSW Sydney’s Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, and Tyree Foundation Institute of Health Engineering (Tyree iHealthE), led by Dr. Thanh Nho Do, have produced a material which is constructed from tiny soft artificial “muscles”—which are long silicon tubes filled with fluid which are manipulated to move via hydraulics.

These artificial muscles, which are surrounded by a helical coil of traditional fibers, can be programmed to contract or expand into a variety of shapes depending on its initial structure.

The research team, who published their latest findings in Scientific Reports and Soft Robotics said that the new smart textile could have a wide range of applications in many different fields.

These potentially include use as a compression garment in medical and health scenarios, as a wearable assistive device for those needing help with movement, and even as shape-shifting soft robots which can aid the recovery of people trapped in confined spaces.

Active fabric

The UNSW Medical Robotics Lab team’s smart textile can either be attached to existing passive material, or the artificial muscles can be inter-woven with traditional yarn to create an active fabric.

“These ‘smart fluid textiles’ take the advantage of hydraulic pressure and add the fast response, lightweight, high flexibility and small size of soft artificial muscles. In effect, we have given our smart textiles the expansion and contraction ability in the exact same way as human muscle fibers,” said Scientia Senior Lecturer Dr. Do.






Engineers from UNSW demonstrate the new class of smart textiles that can shape-shift and turn a two-dimensional material into 3D structures. Credit: University of New South Wales

“Our smart textiles can be programmed to perform various desired motions and deformations such as shape-shifting structures from 2D to 3D. This material has significant benefits as it is made from miniature soft artificial muscles which offer a thin, flexible, and highly conformable structure.

“We propose it can be used to develop new medical compression devices, for example, that are low-profile and lead to better medical outcomes. Patients with poor blood circulation could benefit from smart garments that contract to apply desired pressure to superficial veins and assist blood supply.

“Athletes also use compression garments to recover at a faster rate and reduce muscle soreness after training, and our smart textile has potential to be utilized in that area. We envision our material could be used to develop soft exoskeletons to enable people with disabilities to walk again or augment the human performance.

“Most existing technologies in that field are still based around rigid robotic suits, but it is our hope that we could create a lightweight, soft exoskeleton that looks and feels just like leggings which can be worn like normal clothing. This could then aid those with impaired mobility to walk.”

New shape-shifting material can move like a robot

In a paper published in Scientific Reportsthe UNSW team showed different approaches to create smart textiles from artificial muscle fibres. Credit: University of New South Wales

Soft robots

As well as wearable devices, the team—including Ph.D. students at the UNSW Medical Robotics Lab including the study’s first author Phuoc Thien Phan and his collaborators, Scientia Professor Nigel Lovell, Head of the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering and Director of Tyree iHealthE, and Dr. Hoang-Phuong Phan from the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering—are also excited by the opportunity to develop so-called soft robots which can perform a range of useful tasks.

“Traditional robots are effective when working in structured environments, but they are quite rigid and encounter problems dealing with unknown contexts of changing environments,” Phuoc Thien Phan said. “Normal robots cannot change their shape or start off as a two-dimensional flat material to be able to access small spaces and then morph into a three-dimensional object.”

Scientia Professor Nigel Lovell said: “Soft robots utilizing our smart textile can shape shift and be implemented as a lifting mechanism, such as when rescuing people from collapsed buildings or other hazardous environments, or as a soft tubular gripper—in our experiments we could lift objects around 346 times the material’s own weight.”

The UNSW team have a patent cooperation treaty (PCT) application around the new technology and is continuing to work on further developments, including the integration of a soft miniature pump and wireless communication modules which will enable an untethered system.

Clinical validation is also ongoing with regards to smart compression garments, wearable assistive devices, and soft haptic interfaces.

The new smart textile also has the potential to assist in helping failing hearts pump blood around the body, especially if it can be automatically synchronized with the heartbeat to augment the cardiac function.


Soft skin-like robots you can put in your pocket


More information:
Phuoc Thien Phan et al, Smart textiles using fluid-driven artificial muscle fibers, Scientific Reports (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-15369-2

Phuoc Thien Phan et al, Twisting and Braiding Fluid-Driven Soft Artificial Muscle Fibers for Robotic Applications, Soft Robotics (2021). DOI: 10.1089/soro.2021.0040

Provided by
University of New South Wales

Citation:
New shape-shifting material can move like a robot (2022, July 13)
retrieved 20 July 2022
from https://techxplore.com/news/2022-07-shape-shifting-material-robot.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Tags: materialmoveRobotshapeshifting
Previous Post

Teachers sound the alarm on school vaping

Next Post

Fans convinced Britney Spears wore microphone in creepy Mandela Effect

Related Posts

Watch tiny electromechanical robots that are faster than cheetahs for their size
Technology

Watch tiny electromechanical robots that are faster than cheetahs for their size

Design and characterization of small-scale...

Read more
How complex is your life? Computer scientists found a way to measure it
Technology

How complex is your life? Computer scientists found a way to measure it

Here are example cases for...

Read more
Using a semi-autonomous robot to understand the psychological connections between machine and user
Technology

Using a semi-autonomous robot to understand the psychological connections between machine and user

Changes in attitude by the...

Read more
A new, faster way to browse physics-based animations
Technology

A new, faster way to browse physics-based animations

A ball is launched with...

Read more
Artificial finger able to identify surface material with 90% accuracy
Technology

Artificial finger able to identify surface material with 90% accuracy

(A) Schematic diagram of the...

Read more
Load More
Next Post
Fans convinced Britney Spears wore microphone in creepy Mandela Effect

Fans convinced Britney Spears wore microphone in creepy Mandela Effect

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
50 Best Educational YouTube Channels for Kids and Teens

50 Best Educational YouTube Channels for Kids and Teens

What are the leaked photos of Kobe Bryant at the helicopter crash site?

What are the leaked photos of Kobe Bryant at the helicopter crash site?

Six times actors really romped in sex scenes that make 365 DNI look tame

Six times actors really romped in sex scenes that make 365 DNI look tame

Epic Systems campus, a fantasyland of gardens and architecture, Part 1

Epic Systems campus, a fantasyland of gardens and architecture, Part 1

Biden lauds zero percent rise in inflation last month

Biden lauds zero percent rise in inflation last month

The Highest-Rated Jeep Grab Handles in 2022 – Review by Autoblog Commerce

The Highest-Rated Jeep Grab Handles in 2022 – Review by Autoblog Commerce

Skiathos landing: Video shows Wizz Air plane skimming yards over tourists’ heads

Skiathos landing: Video shows Wizz Air plane skimming yards over tourists’ heads

Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak lay out plans for economy and energy crisis at latest hustings – video | Politics

About Us

Todayheadline the independent news and topics discovery
A home-grown and independent news and topic aggregation . displays breaking news linking to news websites all around the world.

Follow Us

Latest News

Biden lauds zero percent rise in inflation last month

Biden lauds zero percent rise in inflation last month

The Highest-Rated Jeep Grab Handles in 2022 – Review by Autoblog Commerce

The Highest-Rated Jeep Grab Handles in 2022 – Review by Autoblog Commerce

Biden lauds zero percent rise in inflation last month

Biden lauds zero percent rise in inflation last month

The Highest-Rated Jeep Grab Handles in 2022 – Review by Autoblog Commerce

The Highest-Rated Jeep Grab Handles in 2022 – Review by Autoblog Commerce

Skiathos landing: Video shows Wizz Air plane skimming yards over tourists’ heads

Skiathos landing: Video shows Wizz Air plane skimming yards over tourists’ heads

  • Real Estate
  • Education
  • Parenting
  • Cooking
  • NFL Games On TV Today
  • Travel and Tourism
  • Home & Garden
  • Pets
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
  • About

© 2021 All rights are reserved Todayheadline

No Result
View All Result
  • Real Estate
  • Education
  • Parenting
  • Cooking
  • NFL Games On TV Today
  • Travel and Tourism
  • Home & Garden
  • Pets
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
  • About

© 2021 All rights are reserved Todayheadline

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist