Soft Robotic Myriapods via LCEs

Myriapods, such as centipedes and millipedes, represent a promising avenue for bioinspired robotics, with many legs allowing the device to retain functionality even after one leg has been damaged. However, the need for a complicated set of separate parts to control each of these many limbs makes construction difficult. Liquid crystalline elastomers (LCE’s) represent an ideal material to overcome these challenges. Non-linear coupling and feedback between shape changes and light and temperature stimuli allow LCE devices to exhibit a diverse array of actuation and programmed responses without the need for internal mechanisms. This greatly simplifies the fabrication of many-legged soft robots. Using a finite element simulation model, we demonstrate how such an LCE device can be shaped and magnetically programmed so as to induce walking behavior in response to light stimuli.