Frequency-selective actuation of liquid crystalline elastomer actuators with radio-frequency
Abstract Soft and miniaturized robots possess the capability to operate inside narrow, confined environments. However, powering soft robots inside these environments with on-board batteries or wired connections to external power supplies can significantly restrain their mobility. Similarly, wireless...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-08-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62313-9 |
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| _version_ | 1849764128970768384 |
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| author | Yiwen Song Zefang Li Mason Zadan Jingxian Wang Swarun Kumar Carmel Majidi |
| author_facet | Yiwen Song Zefang Li Mason Zadan Jingxian Wang Swarun Kumar Carmel Majidi |
| author_sort | Yiwen Song |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Soft and miniaturized robots possess the capability to operate inside narrow, confined environments. However, powering soft robots inside these environments with on-board batteries or wired connections to external power supplies can significantly restrain their mobility. Similarly, wireless actuation approaches are constrained by near-field actuation, line-of-sight operation, or indiscriminate actuation of many actuators. To provide higher mobility for wireless soft robot to operate inside non-line-of-sight scenarios, we present a radio-frequency system that introduces frequency-selective actuation of liquid crystal elastomer actuators. We create liquid crystalline elastomer actuators with a low actuation temperature and embed them with conductive traces that resonate and heat by selected frequencies of radio-frequency excitation in the 2.40 GHz range. We further develop a wireless actuation platform that infers the wireless channel and beamforms towards the actuator to achieve efficient beamforming. Demonstrations show our system is capable of selectively actuating different actuators while the robot is in motion and obstructed by occlusions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-77f3eef2ae644d67bd3f27fd64e1bd11 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-08-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-77f3eef2ae644d67bd3f27fd64e1bd112025-08-20T03:05:14ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-08-0116111310.1038/s41467-025-62313-9Frequency-selective actuation of liquid crystalline elastomer actuators with radio-frequencyYiwen Song0Zefang Li1Mason Zadan2Jingxian Wang3Swarun Kumar4Carmel Majidi5Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon UniversityDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon UniversityDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon UniversityDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon UniversityDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon UniversityDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon UniversityAbstract Soft and miniaturized robots possess the capability to operate inside narrow, confined environments. However, powering soft robots inside these environments with on-board batteries or wired connections to external power supplies can significantly restrain their mobility. Similarly, wireless actuation approaches are constrained by near-field actuation, line-of-sight operation, or indiscriminate actuation of many actuators. To provide higher mobility for wireless soft robot to operate inside non-line-of-sight scenarios, we present a radio-frequency system that introduces frequency-selective actuation of liquid crystal elastomer actuators. We create liquid crystalline elastomer actuators with a low actuation temperature and embed them with conductive traces that resonate and heat by selected frequencies of radio-frequency excitation in the 2.40 GHz range. We further develop a wireless actuation platform that infers the wireless channel and beamforms towards the actuator to achieve efficient beamforming. Demonstrations show our system is capable of selectively actuating different actuators while the robot is in motion and obstructed by occlusions.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62313-9 |
| spellingShingle | Yiwen Song Zefang Li Mason Zadan Jingxian Wang Swarun Kumar Carmel Majidi Frequency-selective actuation of liquid crystalline elastomer actuators with radio-frequency Nature Communications |
| title | Frequency-selective actuation of liquid crystalline elastomer actuators with radio-frequency |
| title_full | Frequency-selective actuation of liquid crystalline elastomer actuators with radio-frequency |
| title_fullStr | Frequency-selective actuation of liquid crystalline elastomer actuators with radio-frequency |
| title_full_unstemmed | Frequency-selective actuation of liquid crystalline elastomer actuators with radio-frequency |
| title_short | Frequency-selective actuation of liquid crystalline elastomer actuators with radio-frequency |
| title_sort | frequency selective actuation of liquid crystalline elastomer actuators with radio frequency |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62313-9 |
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