Optimal Soft Composites for Under‐Actuated Soft Robots

Material properties and composite structures play key roles in tailoring the performance of soft robots. Unfortunately, current design fabrication approaches limit achievable complexity functionality these two categories hinder robot performance. Here, an approach that allows direct novel is presented. The process uses computational topology optimization to determine required 3D structure hyper-elastic bodies. using all-in-one workflow with resilient silicone polymers enables precise mechanical properties. By applying this underwater batoid-inspired robot, significant swimming improvements demonstrated. An optimized prototype displays 50% faster speeds, 28% turning rates, 55% smaller radii than un-optimized benchmark prototypes.