TY - JOUR
T1 - Rolling of stimuli-bent cylindrical robots using contact finite element simulations
AU - He, Shaobo
AU - Yu, Hao
AU - Kouwenhoven, M. B.N.
AU - Paoletti, Paolo
AU - Dijkstra, Marjolein
AU - Xuan, Chen
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - Curved cylinders, if rigid, cannot roll on a surface like straight cylinders, but soft cylinders bent by specific stimuli can! Studying the autonomous locomotion of these soft robots and their interactions with the environment using finite element analysis is challenging due to the complex multiphysics of stimuli-responsive soft materials and nonlinear contact mechanics. In this pioneering work, we simulate the rolling of stimuli-bent cylinders on a surface using contact finite elements and introduce a simple yet effective pseudo-thermal field method. Our approach successfully reproduces several modes of autonomous locomotion observed experimentally, including phototropic locomotion, phototropic climbing on a slanted surface, steering under partial illumination, and backward rolling under alternating heat-light stimuli. Parametric analysis demonstrates strong agreement between the experiments and our numerical results, validating the effectiveness of our approach. This study reveals the intriguing and highly nonintuitive dynamics of photo- or thermally bent cylindrical soft robots, and serves as a paradigm for modelling and simulating such rolling robots.
AB - Curved cylinders, if rigid, cannot roll on a surface like straight cylinders, but soft cylinders bent by specific stimuli can! Studying the autonomous locomotion of these soft robots and their interactions with the environment using finite element analysis is challenging due to the complex multiphysics of stimuli-responsive soft materials and nonlinear contact mechanics. In this pioneering work, we simulate the rolling of stimuli-bent cylinders on a surface using contact finite elements and introduce a simple yet effective pseudo-thermal field method. Our approach successfully reproduces several modes of autonomous locomotion observed experimentally, including phototropic locomotion, phototropic climbing on a slanted surface, steering under partial illumination, and backward rolling under alternating heat-light stimuli. Parametric analysis demonstrates strong agreement between the experiments and our numerical results, validating the effectiveness of our approach. This study reveals the intriguing and highly nonintuitive dynamics of photo- or thermally bent cylindrical soft robots, and serves as a paradigm for modelling and simulating such rolling robots.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=86000663080&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1039/d5sm00080g
DO - 10.1039/d5sm00080g
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:86000663080
SN - 1744-683X
JO - Soft Matter
JF - Soft Matter
ER -