Spatial Programming of Mechanical Stiffness for Versatile Photomechanical Jumps in Liquid Crystal Polymers

Living species use jumping to rapidly navigate rough terrains and overcome obstacles often several times their body size. Inspired by the complex dynamics found in nature, soft materials with embedded physical intelligence have been adapted to induce contactless motions. Among these, liquid crystal polymers stand out as one type of soft material that can respond to external stimuli and morph their shapes according to programmed alignment. As a result, various motions such as rolling, crawling, and jumping have been realized. Due to their stimuli-responsiveness, these materials can be designed without complex components, making them lightweight and ideal for small-scale robotics. Light-driven systems provide the advantage of on-demand stimuli modulation, enabling a wide range of motions. However, precise light control is often necessary to achieve the intended movements, and the lack of complex sensing components can limit the control over jumping directions and modes. Herin, we address these challenges by spatially controlling the stiffness of liquid crystal polymers to achieve multimodal photo-triggered jumps under uniform light. By employing different photochemical modulations, we successfully controlled the jumping height, axis, and direction.