Robotic Hair with Rich Sensation and Piloerection Functionalities Biomimicked by Stimuli-Responsive Materials

Abstract

Living organisms are imparted with compact intelligence in which a myriad of functionalities are delivered by highly integrated and demodularized subunits, as in the case of the mammalian skin in which different embedding stimuli-receptors and follicles work together to provide rich sensation for temperature and tactility, as well as the visible and regulatory response of hair erection via the arrector pili muscle. A breakthrough in robotics is to create similar intelligence using emerging stimuli-responsive materials. Here, a thin film composite comprising a transition metal oxide/hydroxide layer for sensation and high-performing actuation under environmental stimuli including visible light, humidity, and temperature, and a graphene-based layer for feedback strain sensing, is developed to demonstrate such an approach of robotics. The system is used to construct robotic hair that mimics well mammalian hair in functionality, and devices for sensing objects for their effective manipulation. This research opens a “material intelligence” approach for robotics.