A Bioinspired Soft Actuated Material

• Published in: Advanced materials (Weinheim) Vol. 26; no. 8; pp. 1200 - 1206
• Main Authors: Roche, Ellen T., Wohlfarth, Robert, Overvelde, Johannes T. B., Vasilyev, Nikolay V., Pigula, Frank A., Mooney, David J., Bertoldi, Katia, Walsh, Conor J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Blackwell Publishing Ltd 26-02-2014
• Subjects: Actuators; Biomimetic materials; Biomimetic Materials - chemistry; biomimetic motion; Computer Simulation; Elasticity; embedded actuators; Embedded structures; Finite Element Analysis; Finite element method; Hardness; Heart - anatomy & histology; Heart - physiology; Heart Ventricles - anatomy & histology; Humans; Linear Models; Materials Testing; Mathematical analysis; Models, Cardiovascular; Motion; Muscle, Skeletal - anatomy & histology; Muscle, Skeletal - physiology; Muscle, Smooth - anatomy & histology; Muscle, Smooth - physiology; Muscles; Myocardium; Myofibrils - physiology; Nonlinear Dynamics; pneumatic actuators; Pneumatics; Simulation; soft actuated material; Stomach - anatomy & histology; Stomach - physiology; three-dimensional motion; embedded actuators; three-dimensional motion; biomimetic motion; soft actuated material; pneumatic actuators
• ISSN: 0935-9648; 1521-4095
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.201304018

A class of soft actuated materials that can achieve lifelike motion is presented. By embedding pneumatic actuators in a soft material inspired by a biological muscle fibril architecture, and developing a simple finite element simulation of the same, tunable biomimetic motion can be achieved with fully soft structures, exemplified here by an active left ventricle simulator.