Biomimetic conductor from viscoelastic polymer composite gels for smart soft electronics

Abstract

The neural system in living organisms has achieved highly optimized features in perception, response, and learning, which are extremely desirable for modern soft robots. Today’s soft robots generally utilize flexible conductors to fabricate their sensory systems. Such a system usually exhibits instantaneous response behaviors upon external stimuli without signal persistence or environmental adaptability to protect living organisms. This work provides a bio-conductor based on viscoelastic polymer gels and metal microfibers. The flexible bio-conductor can achieve critical sensory persistence and adaptation via efficient control over the electrical conductive network through relaxation of metal microfibers and polymer chains. The signal transmission in the bio-conductor can be conveniently mediated through the parameters of the composites, exhibiting unique responses to diverse environmental conditions. An aerial vehicle integrated with the bio-conductor, and a microcontroller unit (MCU) was successfully fabricated for a robot system to simulate the signal transmission, processing, and response in biological nervous systems.