Soft robots are promising devices for applications in drug delivery, sensing, and manufacturing. Traditional hard robotics are manufactured with rigid materials and their degrees of motion are constrained by the orientation of the joints. In contrast to rigid counterpart, soft robotics, employing soft and stretchable materials that easily deforms in shape, can realize complex motions (i.e., locomotion, swimming, and grappling) with a simple structure, and easily adapt to dynamic environment. Among them, the magnetic actuators exhibit unique characteristics such as rapid and accurate motion control, biocompatibility, and facile remote controllability, which make them promising candidates for the next-generation soft robots. Especially, the magnetic actuators instantly response to the stimuli, and show no-hysteresis during the recovery process, essential for continuous motion control. Here, we present the state-of-the-art fabrication process of magnetically controllable nano-/micro-composites, magnetically aligning process of the composites, and 1-dimensional/multi-dimensional multimodal motion control for the next-generation soft actuators.

Over the past decade, small robots have been of particular interest in the engineering field. Among the various types of small robots, biomimetic robots, which mimic animals and insects, have been developed for special activities in areas where humans cannot physically access. The optimal motion of a walking robot can be determined by the characteristics of the traversed surface (e.g., roughness, curvature, slope, materials, etc.). This study proposes three types of piezoelectric structures using different driving mechanisms, depending on the application range of the small walking robots. Dynamic modeling using computer-aided engineering optimized the shape of the robot to maximize its moving characteristics, and the results were also verified through its fabrication and experimentation. Three types of robots, named by their actuator shapes as I, π, & T-shape, were proposed regarding application for small scale ambulatory robots to different terrain conditions. Among these, the T-shaped robots were shown to have a wide range of speeds (from 2 mm/s up to 255 mm/s) and good carrying capacity (up to 10 g at 50 mm/s) through driving experiments. Based on this study, we proposed possible application areas for the three types of walking robot actuators.

In this study, two important requirements for the home production of a robot to detect and remove improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are presented in terms of the total cost for robot system development and the performance improvement of the mine detection technology. Firstly, cost analyses were performed in order to provide a reasonable solution following an engineering estimate method. As a result, the total cost for a mass production system without the mine detection system was estimated to be approximately 396 million won. For the case including the mine detection system, the total cost was estimated to be approximately 411 million won, in which labor costs and overhead charges were slightly increased and the material costs for the mine detection system were negligible. Secondly, a method for fabricating the carbon nanotube (CNT) based gas detection sensor was studied. The detection electrodes were formed by a photolithography process using a photosensitive CNT paste. As a result, this method was shown to be a scalable and expandable technology for producing excellent mine detection sensors. In particular, it was found that surface treatments by using adhesive taping or ion beam bombardment methods are effective for exposing the CNTs to the ambient air environment. Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) plots were obtained from the electron-emission characteristics of the surface treated CNT paste. The F-N plot suggests that sufficient electrons are available for transport between CNT surfaces and chemical molecules, which will make an effective chemiresistive sensor for the advanced IED detection system.