Jellyfish-Inspired Visual and Sensory Bubbling Robots with Automatic 3D Morphable Films for Underwater Environmental Interactions

• Published in: ACS nano Vol. 18; no. 31; pp. 20694 - 20705
• Main Authors: Li, Shan, Xiao, Peng, Wang, Qiling, He, Jiang, Liu, Xinrui, Wei, Junjie, Wang, Yaowen, Chen, Tao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 25.07.2024
• Subjects: autonomous 3D morphing; self-perception; underwater environmental interaction; fluorescence warning; soft skins
• ISSN: 1936-0851; 1936-086X; 1936-086X
• DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.4c06714

Coelenterates, such as Atolla jellyfish, are capable of integrating color, communication, and motion in a sophisticated manner, thereby enabling them to function as intelligent biological systems that can adapt to the challenges of the underwater environment. Extensive efforts have been dedicated to exploiting underwater visual, sensory, actuating, or combined systems. However, current biomimetic soft systems are still limited by the lack of comprehensive, integrated functional skins that can automatically deform, dynamically sense, and further send color signals when diving into underwater conditions. Here, we propose the synthetic soft skins composed of assembled entangled carbon nanotube networks and fluorescent unit-embedded elastomers which can be applied in a suspended form to allow autonomic 3D deformation, real-time perception, and dynamic fluorescence color transformation. The capabilities of the sensory and color display thresholds were controlled through the entanglement density of carbon nanotubes and the suspended area. As a demonstration, the soft thin skin was integrated into an artificial jellyfish robot, enabling the realization of a closed-loop feedback system for dynamic sensory processing, signal processing, and further 3D morphing-induced fluorescent color change, demonstrating significant potentials in underwater visual display, danger warning, and environmental exploration.