Pusan Uni Develops Flexible Material for Next-Gen Robotics

The breakthrough composite materials combines flexibility and energy for superior robotic purposes

The sphere of robotics has reworked drastically on this century, with a particular concentrate on tender robotics. On this context, origami-inspired deployable buildings with compact storage and environment friendly deployment options have gained prominence in aerospace, structure, and medical fields. Up to now, specialists have primarily utilized paper, skinny glass, and polymers as foldable supplies for such purposes. Nonetheless, fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP)—a state-of-the-art different—stays underexplored when it comes to the accuracy and reliability of the fabrication course of.

Addressing this information hole, a group of scientists from Pusan Nationwide College, led by Dong Gi Seong, an affiliate professor within the Division of Polymer Science and Engineering, has proposed a multi-resin shelling out course of for FRP fabrication that mixes inflexible and versatile epoxy resins, permitting for the exact patterning of mechanical properties inside a monolithic construction. Their work was made obtainable on-line on 30 June 2025 and has been printed in Quantity 305 of Composites Half B: Engineering journal on 1 October 2025.

Dr. Seong highlights the principle contribution of their work, stating, “Our novel and environment friendly approach for fabricating composite supplies that allow versatile bending whereas sustaining sturdy structural efficiency—an development that has not been beforehand reported within the literature—overcomes the constraints of conventional single-resin programs and handbook processes, enabling selective management of rigidity and adaptability inside the monolithic composite.”

On this approach, the researchers obtain versatile bending with out compromising the structural integrity required for superior deployable buildings in numerous purposes together with rigid-soft robotics purposes. They show the potential of their method to supply sturdy, high-performance FRP composites by way of the profitable fabrication of a triangulated cylindrical origami construction.

These composites exhibit a flexural modulus of 6.95 GPa in inflexible sections and 0.66 GPa in foldable sections, with a bending radius of lower than 0.5 mm, making certain each flexibility and stability underneath repetitive cycles with excessive pressure tolerance. Moreover, the fabricated construction is light-weight, mechanically strong, and able to advanced motions resembling extension, compression, bending, twisting, and deployment, making it very best for a variety of purposes.

In keeping with Dr. Seong, their innovation can result in vital breakthroughs in numerous futuristic fields of science and expertise. “Its purposes embrace robotic elements together with joints to create a Transformer-like robotic, deployable elements for house purposes resembling deployable photo voltaic panel and photo voltaic crusing spacecraft, foldable and rollable electronics substrate or cowl, architectural designs for tent, navy or emergency shelter, in addition to transformable wheel for next-gen autos.”

This analysis lays the groundwork for compactly saved buildings that may be exactly deployed and retain their mechanical sturdiness, resulting in long-term societal impacts, together with however not restricted to enhanced reliability of emergency tents and wearable protecting gear for catastrophe response and improved transportation effectivity for low Earth orbit satellite tv for pc programs, accelerating the worldwide rollout of space-based web.

In the long run, the proposed expertise can pave the way in which for purposes in robotics the place unified inflexible–tender buildings can allow energy fits, humanoid joints, and adaptive electronics, in addition to information viable materials alternative for transformable wheels and adaptive construction, enabling energy-efficient mobility programs in comparison with heavier metallic elements.

Finally, this work might function the muse for next-generation applied sciences that demand each deployability and sturdiness in on a regular basis life.

Reference
Title of unique paper: Deployable fiber-reinforced polymer for superior monolithic Inflexible–Delicate robotics purposes
Journal: Composites Half B: Engineering
DOI: 10.1016/j.compositesb.2025.112754

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