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Abstract Soft robots have attracted increasing attention due to their excellent versatility and broad applications. In this article, we present a minimally designed soft crawling robot (SCR) capable of robust locomotion in unstructured pipes with various geometric/material properties and surface topology. In particular, the SCR can squeeze through narrow pipes smaller than its cross section and propel robustly in spiked pipes. The gait pattern and locomotion mechanism of this robot are experimentally investigated and analysed by the finite element analysis, revealing that the resultant forward frictional force is generated due to the asymmetric mechanical properties along the length direction of the robot. The proposed simple yet working SCR could inspire novel designs and applications of soft robots in unstructured narrow canals such as large intestines or industrial pipelines. 

The inspection, maintenance, and repair of pipeline and tunnel infrastructure have motivated the increasing research in the development of suitable robots with high flexibility, good adaptability, and large load capacity. Herein, a worm‐inspired soft robot that is capable of operating and performing a variety of tasks in a complicated pipeline/tunnel environment is reported. The soft tubular robot consists of elongation pneumatic actuators (EPAs), radial expansion pneumatic actuators (REPAs), and a spatial bending pneumatic actuator (SBPA). A series of experiments are performed to demonstrate the capability of the soft robot to crawl robustly under different pipeline conditions, including varying diameter, different cross‐sectional shapes, and wet or oil‐covered internal surfaces, and underwater environment. The soft robot can carry a load of more than 11 times of its own weight in a vertical pipeline. Equipped with a visualization unit, the soft robot can detect the internal conditions of the pipeline and cross the multibranched pipeline as needed. The tubular soft robot provides a useful tool for the inspection, cleaning, and maintenance of pipelines and tunnels.

 

Innovative human–machine interfaces (HMIs) have attracted increasing attention in the field of system control and assistive devices for disabled people. Conventional HMIs that are designed based on the interaction of physical movements or language communication are not effective or appliable to severely disabled users. Here, a breath‐driven triboelectric sensor is reported consisting of a soft fixator and two circular‐shaped triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) for self‐powered respiratory monitoring and smart system control. The sensor device is capable of effectively detecting the breath variation and generates responsive electrical signals based on different breath patterns without affecting the normal respiration. A breathing‐driven HMI system is demonstrated for severely disabled people to control electrical household appliances and shows an intelligent respiration monitoring system for emergence alarm. The new system provides the advantages of high sensitivity, good stability, low cost, and ease of use. This work will not only expand the development of the TENGs in self‐powered sensors, but also opens a new avenue to develop assistive devices for disabled people through innovation of advanced HMIs.

 

The launch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) and its follow-on NOAA Joint Polar Satellite Systems (JPSS) satellites marks the beginning of a new era of operational satellite observations of the Earth and atmosphere for environmental applications with high spatial resolution and sampling rate. The S-NPP and JPSS are equipped with five instruments, each with advanced design in Earth sampling, including the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS), the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS), the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS), the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), and the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES). Among them, the ATMS is the new generation of microwave sounder measuring temperature profiles from the surface to the upper stratosphere and moisture profiles from the surface to the upper troposphere, while CrIS is the first of a series of advanced operational hyperspectral sounders providing more accurate atmospheric and moisture sounding observations with higher vertical resolution for weather and climate applications. The OMPS instrument measures solar backscattered ultraviolet to provide information on the concentrations of ozone in the Earth’s atmosphere, and VIIRS provides global observations of a variety of essential environmental variables over the land, atmosphere, cryosphere, and ocean with visible and infrared imagery. The CERES instrument measures the solar energy reflected by the Earth, the longwave radiative emission from the Earth, and the role of cloud processes in the Earth’s energy balance. Presently, observations from several instruments on S-NPP and JPSS-1 (re-named NOAA-20 after launch) provide near real-time monitoring of the environmental changes and improve weather forecasting by assimilation into numerical weather prediction models. Envisioning the need for consistencies in satellite retrievals, improving climate reanalyses, development of climate data records, and improving numerical weather forecasting, the NOAA/Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR) has been reprocessing the S-NPP observations for ATMS, CrIS, OMPS, and VIIRS through their life cycle. This article provides a summary of the instrument observing principles, data characteristics, reprocessing approaches, calibration algorithms, and validation results of the reprocessed sensor data records. The reprocessing generated consistent Level-1 sensor data records using unified and consistent calibration algorithms for each instrument that removed artificial jumps in data owing to operational changes, instrument anomalies, contaminations by anomaly views of the environment or spacecraft, and other causes. The reprocessed sensor data records were compared with and validated against other observations for a consistency check whenever such data were available. The reprocessed data will be archived in the NOAA data center with the same format as the operational data and technical support for data requests. Such a reprocessing is expected to improve the efficiency of the use of the S-NPP and JPSS satellite data and the accuracy of the observed essential environmental variables through either consistent satellite retrievals or use of the reprocessed data in numerical data assimilations. 

Multifunctional metamaterials (MFMs) capable of energy harvesting and vibration control are particularly attractive for smart structures, wearable/biointegrated electronics, and intelligent robotics. Here, a novel MFM based on triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), which can harvest environmental energy and reduce vibration simultaneously, is reported. The unit cells of the MFM consist of a local resonator, an integrated contact‐ separation mode TENG, and spiral‐shaped connecting beams. A multiphysics theoretical model is developed for quantitatively evaluating the performance of the MFM by including the mechanical and electrical fields interactions, which is further validated by experimental testing. It is demonstrated that the TENG‐based MFM can not only effectively harvest vibration energy to power electronics but also dramatically suppress low‐frequency mechanical vibration. This work provides a new design and model for developing novel TENG‐based MFMs for advanced smart systems used in a variety of applications.