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Biomimetic soft micro-swimmers: from actuation mechanisms to applications

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Abstract

Underwater robot designs inspired by the behavior and morphological characteristics of aquatic animals can provide reinforced mobility and energy efficiency. In the past two decades, the emerging materials science and integrated circuit technology have been combined and applied to various types of bionic soft underwater miniaturized robots by researchers around the world. Further, the potential applications of biomimetic soft micro-swimmers in the biological and medical fields have been explored. Here, this paper reviews the development of biomimetic soft tiny swimmers, which are designed based on a variety of intelligent materials and control strategies. This review focuses on the various actuation mechanisms of soft tiny swimmers reported in the past two decades and classifies these robots into four categories: fish-like, snake-like, jellyfish-like and microbial-inspired ones. Besides, this review considers the practical challenges faced by actuation mechanisms of each type of robot, and summarizes and prospects how these challenges affect the potential applications of robots in real environments.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the financial support from the National Science Foundation of China (No.61803088), the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province, China (No. 2017 J01748), the Open Project Programs from both the State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No: 2017-O02) and Fuzhou University Testing Fund of precious apparatus (No. 2019 T015 and No. 2020 T016).

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  1. School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108, China

    Shihan Fu, Fanan Wei, Chao Yin, Ligang Yao & Yaxiong Wang

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  1. Shihan Fu
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Fu, S., Wei, F., Yin, C. et al. Biomimetic soft micro-swimmers: from actuation mechanisms to applications. Biomed Microdevices 23, 6 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-021-00546-3

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