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1. A dynamic electrically driven soft valve for control of soft hydraulic actuators

   https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2103198118  

   Xu, Siyi ; Chen, Yufeng ; Hyun, Nak-seung P. ; Becker, Kaitlyn P. ; Wood, Robert J. ( August 2021 , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)

   Regulation systems for fluid-driven soft robots predominantly consist of inflexible and bulky components. These rigid structures considerably limit the adaptability and mobility of these robots. Soft valves in various forms for fluidic actuators have been developed, primarily fluidically or electrically driven. However, fluidic soft valves require external pressure sources that limit robot locomotion. State-of-the-art electrostatic valves are unable to modulate pressure beyond 3.5 kPa with a sufficient flow rate (>6 mL⋅min −1 ). In this work, we present an electrically powered soft valve for hydraulic actuators with mesoscale channels based on a different class of ultrahigh-power density dynamic dielectric elastomer actuators. The dynamic dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are actuated at 500 Hz or above. These DEAs generate 300% higher blocked force compared with the dynamic DEAs in previous works and their loaded power density reaches 290 W⋅kg −1 at operating conditions. The soft valves are developed with compact (7 mm tall) and lightweight (0.35 g) dynamic DEAs, and they allow effective control of up to 51 kPa of pressure and a 40 mL⋅min −1 flow rate with a response time less than 0.1 s. The valves can also tune flow rates based on their driving voltages. Using the DEA softmore »valves, we demonstrate control of hydraulic actuators of different volumes and achieve independent control of multiple actuators powered by a single pressure source. This compact and lightweight DEA valve is capable of unprecedented electrical control of hydraulic actuators, showing the potential for future onboard motion control of soft fluid-driven robots.« less
2. Soft-FET: Phase transition material assisted Soft switching F ield E ffect T ransistor for supply voltage droop mitigation

   https://doi.org/10.1109/DAC.2018.8465768  

   Teja, Subrahmanya ; Kulkarni, Jaydeep P. ( June 2018 , Design Automation Conference)
3. A 354 Mb/s 0.37 mm ² 151 mW 32-User 256-QAM Near-MAP Soft-Input Soft-Output Massive MU-MIMO Data Detector in 28nm CMOS

   https://doi.org/10.1109/LSSC.2019.2935567  

   Jeon, Charles ; Castaneda, Oscar ; Studer, Christoph ( September 2019 , IEEE Solid-State Circuits Letters)
4. Structurally Tailored and Engineered Macromolecular (STEM) Gels as Soft Elastomers and Hard/Soft Interfaces

   https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.8b01880  

   Cuthbert, Julia ; Zhang, Tao ; Biswas, Santidan ; Olszewski, Mateusz ; Shanmugam, Sivaprakash ; Fu, Travis ; Gottlieb, Eric ; Kowalewski, Tomasz ; Balazs, Anna C. ; Matyjaszewski, Krzysztof ( November 2018 , Macromolecules)
5. Towards scalable soft e-skin: Flexible event-based tactile-sensors using wireless sensor elements embedded in soft elastomer

   https://doi.org/10.1109/BioRob49111.2020.9224353  

   Slepyan, Ariel ; Thakor, Nitish ( November 2020 , IEEE BIOROB Conference)

   Scalable, high-density electronic skins (e-skins) are a desirable goal of tactile sensing. However, a realization of this goal has been elusive due to the trade-off between spatial and temporal resolution that current tactile sensors suffer from. Additionally, as tactile sensing grids become large, wiring becomes unmanageable, and there is a need for a wireless approach. In this work, a scalable, event-based, passive tactilesensing system is proposed that is based on radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology. An RFID-based tactile sensing hand is developed with 19 pressure sensing taxels. The taxels are read wirelessly using a single ‘hand-shaped’ RFID antenna. Each RFID tag is transformed into a pressure sensor by disconnecting the RFID chip from its antenna and embedding the chip and antenna into soft elastomer with an air gap introduced between the RFID chip and its antenna. When a pressure event occurs, the RFID chip contacts its antenna and receives power and communicates with the RFID reader. Thus, the sensor is transformed into a biomimetic event-based sensor, whose response is activated only when used. Further, this work demonstrates the feasibility of constructing event-based, passive sensing grids that can be read wirelessly. Future tactile sensing e-skins can utilize this approach to become scalablemore »and dense, while retaining high temporal resolution. Moreover, this approach can be applied beyond tactile sensing, for the development of scalable and high-density sensors of any modality.« less