Deployable Soft Microactuator with Water Circulation Channel and Shape Memory Polymer

This paper reports a new concept of deployable soft actuator with a flexible fluidic channel and a temperature-responsive shape memory polymer (SMP). Our novelty of the concept is the combination of deployability, retractivity, and variable stiffness. This concept is expected for robotic applications in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract with variable diameters and frequent deformations. Temperature-responsive deformation of the SMP contributes to the deployability and variable stiffness. The channel with water circulation contributes to thermal input to the SMP and retractivity by its fluidic pressure. We designed the soft actuator, fabricated prototypes, and evaluated the deploying and retracting behavior using the prototypes.