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Nature volume 572, pages516–519 (2019)

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1479-6?proof=t

■ Researchers

Vito Cacucciolo

Soft Transducers Laboratory (LMTS), Institute of Microengineering, School of Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)

Jun Shintake, Yu Kuwajima, Shingo Maeda, Dario Floreano & Herbert Shea

■ Abstract

Machines made of soft materials bridge life sciences and engineering1. Advances in soft materials have led to skin-like sensors and muscle-like actuators for soft robots and wearable devices1,2,3. Flexible or stretchable counterparts of most key mechatronic components have been developed4,5, principally using fluidically driven systems6,7,8; other reported mechanisms include electrostatic9,10,11,12, stimuli-responsive gels13,14 and thermally responsive materials such as liquid metals15,16,17 and shape-memory polymers18. Despite the widespread use of fluidic actuation, there have been few soft counterparts of pumps or compressors, limiting the portability and autonomy of soft machines4,8. Here we describe a class of soft-matter bidirectional pumps based on charge-injection electrohydrodynamics19. These solid-state pumps are flexible, stretchable, modular, scalable, quiet and rapid. By integrating the pump into a glove, we demonstrate wearable active thermal management. Embedding the pump in an inflatable structure produces a self-contained fluidic ‘muscle’. The stretchable pumps have potential uses in wearable laboratory-on-a-chip and microfluidic sensors, thermally active clothing and autonomous soft robots.

• Applied physics
• Electrical and electronic engineering
• Mechanical engineering
• Soft materials

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