3D-Printed High-Frequency Dielectric Elastomer Actuator toward Insect-Scale Ultrafast Soft Robot

Insects with small and light bodies possess the capability of agile and fast movement in a small space. Inspired by nature, an insect-like soft robot may update the strategies in many scenarios like exploration, rescue, etc. However, the design and mass manufacture of soft robots combining insect size, fast mobility, good robustness, and impact-perception capability still present great engineering challenges. Herein, we report an insect-scale (15 mm body length (BL), 450 mg body weight) and ultrafast (∼4.0 BL s–1) soft robot. The remarkable motion performance is attributed to the high-frequency (760 Hz) operation as well as the long lifetime (>one million cycles) of its artificial muscle, which is a coil dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) made by multimaterial coaxial three-dimensional printing with well-designed highly elastic materials and 5-inlets nozzle structure. The current robot is not only the smallest and fastest among the reported DEA-driven robots but also obtains high robustness, good environmental adaptability, and impact-perception capability: It can run on various grounds and complex paths, climb inside small pipes, work in robot swarms, and sustain and perceive the impact of the external environment.