Data-driven design of shape-programmable magnetic soft materials

Abstract Magnetically responsive soft materials with spatially-encoded magnetic and material properties enable versatile shape morphing for applications ranging from soft medical robots to biointerfaces. Although high-resolution encoding of 3D magnetic and material properties create a vast design sp...

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Main Authors: Alp C. Karacakol, Yunus Alapan, Sinan O. Demir, Metin Sitti
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-03-01
Series:Nature Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58091-z
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author Alp C. Karacakol
Yunus Alapan
Sinan O. Demir
Metin Sitti
author_facet Alp C. Karacakol
Yunus Alapan
Sinan O. Demir
Metin Sitti
author_sort Alp C. Karacakol
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Magnetically responsive soft materials with spatially-encoded magnetic and material properties enable versatile shape morphing for applications ranging from soft medical robots to biointerfaces. Although high-resolution encoding of 3D magnetic and material properties create a vast design space, their intrinsic coupling makes trial-and-error based design exploration infeasible. Here, we introduce a data-driven strategy that uses stochastic design alterations guided by a predictive neural network, combined with cost-efficient simulations, to optimize distributed magnetization profile and morphology of magnetic soft materials for desired shape-morphing and robotic behaviors. Our approach uncovers non-intuitive 2D designs that morph into complex 2D/3D structures and optimizes morphological behaviors, such as maximizing rotation or minimizing volume. We further demonstrate enhanced jumping performance over an intuitive reference design and showcase fabrication- and scale-agnostic, inherently 3D, multi-material soft structures for robotic tasks including traversing and jumping. This generic, data-driven framework enables efficient exploration of design space of stimuli-responsive soft materials, providing functional shape morphing and behavior for the next generation of soft robots and devices.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2041-1723
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publishDate 2025-03-01
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spelling doaj-art-7d596e6cc32345a79d6e2396f2616be22025-08-20T03:41:14ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-03-0116111310.1038/s41467-025-58091-zData-driven design of shape-programmable magnetic soft materialsAlp C. Karacakol0Yunus Alapan1Sinan O. Demir2Metin Sitti3Physical Intelligence Department, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent SystemsPhysical Intelligence Department, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent SystemsPhysical Intelligence Department, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent SystemsPhysical Intelligence Department, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent SystemsAbstract Magnetically responsive soft materials with spatially-encoded magnetic and material properties enable versatile shape morphing for applications ranging from soft medical robots to biointerfaces. Although high-resolution encoding of 3D magnetic and material properties create a vast design space, their intrinsic coupling makes trial-and-error based design exploration infeasible. Here, we introduce a data-driven strategy that uses stochastic design alterations guided by a predictive neural network, combined with cost-efficient simulations, to optimize distributed magnetization profile and morphology of magnetic soft materials for desired shape-morphing and robotic behaviors. Our approach uncovers non-intuitive 2D designs that morph into complex 2D/3D structures and optimizes morphological behaviors, such as maximizing rotation or minimizing volume. We further demonstrate enhanced jumping performance over an intuitive reference design and showcase fabrication- and scale-agnostic, inherently 3D, multi-material soft structures for robotic tasks including traversing and jumping. This generic, data-driven framework enables efficient exploration of design space of stimuli-responsive soft materials, providing functional shape morphing and behavior for the next generation of soft robots and devices.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58091-z
spellingShingle Alp C. Karacakol
Yunus Alapan
Sinan O. Demir
Metin Sitti
Data-driven design of shape-programmable magnetic soft materials
Nature Communications
title Data-driven design of shape-programmable magnetic soft materials
title_full Data-driven design of shape-programmable magnetic soft materials
title_fullStr Data-driven design of shape-programmable magnetic soft materials
title_full_unstemmed Data-driven design of shape-programmable magnetic soft materials
title_short Data-driven design of shape-programmable magnetic soft materials
title_sort data driven design of shape programmable magnetic soft materials
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58091-z
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AT yunusalapan datadrivendesignofshapeprogrammablemagneticsoftmaterials
AT sinanodemir datadrivendesignofshapeprogrammablemagneticsoftmaterials
AT metinsitti datadrivendesignofshapeprogrammablemagneticsoftmaterials