3D Printing Bio-Inspired Micro Soft Robot with Programming Magnetic Elastic Composites

Bio-inspired micro soft robots mimic biologically specific body structures and movement mechanisms by utilizing bionic principles. Because of its soft body, it can adapt to complex external environments. However, the existing polymer material system is single and the fabrication process is limited. How to further reduce soft robot size has become a key issue. In this work, a Programming Magnetic Elastic Composites (PMEC) is proposed for 3D printing to manufacture micro soft robots. The PMEC has the advantage of changing the direction of the internal magnetic field in response to changes in the external magnetic field. A Microsoft robot is designed and fabricated using PMEC inspired by an inchworm. Numerical simulations are also used to study the effect of soft robot size parameters on local stresses and optimize the structure. The results show that the microscale soft robot can crawl with a load of 2 times its weight at a speed of 6.67 mm s⁻¹, crawl on slopes from 0° to 90°, and crawl over obstacles with a maximum height of 7 mm. In addition, active adaptation of soft robots to complex tunnel models based on external stimuli is achieved by magnetic field control.