Electromagnetic-stimulated untethered amphibious soft robot with multimodal locomotion

The development of amphibious soft robots with multimodal locomotion is of great importance for next-generation intelligent and adaptive devices. Here, we report an untethered amphibious soft robot with diverse locomotion modes driven by high-frequency alternating magnetic fields. The robot is a layered strip composed of liquid crystal elastomer and liquid metal. It can crawl, flip, move upward to water surfaces, swim and steer on water, and transition seamlessly between terrestrial and aquatic environments. This amphibious multimodal locomotion is enabled by two distinct untethered actuation mechanisms under high-frequency alternating magnetic fields: i) thermally driven reversible bending deformation facilitated by ultrafast and programmable induction heating to achieve crawling, flipping, and surfacing motions; and ii) Lorentz force to power on-water swimming. Steerable crawling and swimming are achieved by spatially controlling the alternating magnetic fields. With these capabilities, multimodal amphibious locomotion of the soft robot over a hybrid terrestrial-aquatic environment is further demonstrated for targeted cargo transportation. We anticipate the reported amphibious soft robot with integrated actuation mechanisms and environmental adaptivity will facilitate a broad spectrum of applications, such as environmental monitoring, underwater exploration, and biomedical interventions.