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Biohybrid centimeter-scale robots developed from optoelectronics and optogenetic muscles can be controlled wirelessly. 

Haptic interfaces can be used to add sensations of touch to virtual and augmented reality experiences. Soft, flexible devices that deliver spatiotemporal patterns of touch across the body, potentially with full-body coverage, are of particular interest for a range of applications in medicine, sports and gaming. Here we report a wireless haptic interface of this type, with the ability to display vibro-tactile patterns across large areas of the skin in single units or through a wirelessly coordinated collection of them. The lightweight and flexible designs of these systems incorporate arrays of vibro-haptic actuators at a density of 0.73 actuators per square centimetre, which exceeds the two-point discrimination threshold for mechanical sensation on the skin across nearly all the regions of the body except the hands and face. A range of vibrant sensations and information content can be passed to mechanoreceptors in the skin via time-dependent patterns and amplitudes of actuation controlled through the pressure-sensitive touchscreens of smart devices, in real-time with negligible latency. We show that this technology can be used to convey navigation instructions, to translate musical tracks into tactile patterns and to support sensory replacement feedback for the control of robotic prosthetics. 

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20857-y 

Functional surfaces that can control light across the electromagnetic spectrum are highly desirable. Plasmonic nanostructures can assume this role by exhibiting dimension-tunable resonances that span multiple electromagnetic regimes. However, changing these structural parameters often impacts the higher-order resonances and spectral features in lower-wavelength domains. In this study, we discuss a cavity-coupled plasmonic system with resonances that are tunable across the 3–5 or 8–14 μm infrared bands while retaining near-invariant spectral properties in the visible domain. This result is accomplished by regime-dependent resonance mechanisms and their dependence on independent structural parameters. Through the identification and constraint of key parameters, we demonstrate multispectral data encoding, where images, viewable in the infrared spectral domain, appear as uniform areas of color in the visible domain—effectively hiding the information. Fabricated by large area nanoimprint lithography and compatible with flexible surfaces, the proposed system can produce multifunctional coatings for thermal management, camouflage, and anti-counterfeiting.

 

Abstract Bioresorbable electronic stimulators are of rapidly growing interest as unusual therapeutic platforms, i.e., bioelectronic medicines, for treating disease states, accelerating wound healing processes and eliminating infections. Here, we present advanced materials that support operation in these systems over clinically relevant timeframes, ultimately bioresorbing harmlessly to benign products without residues, to eliminate the need for surgical extraction. Our findings overcome key challenges of bioresorbable electronic devices by realizing lifetimes that match clinical needs. The devices exploit a bioresorbable dynamic covalent polymer that facilitates tight bonding to itself and other surfaces, as a soft, elastic substrate and encapsulation coating for wireless electronic components. We describe the underlying features and chemical design considerations for this polymer, and the biocompatibility of its constituent materials. In devices with optimized, wireless designs, these polymers enable stable, long-lived operation as distal stimulators in a rat model of peripheral nerve injuries, thereby demonstrating the potential of programmable long-term electrical stimulation for maintaining muscle receptivity and enhancing functional recovery. 

Recently developed methods in mechanically guided assembly provide deterministic access to wide-ranging classes of complex, 3D structures in high-performance functional materials, with characteristic length scales that can range from nanometers to centimeters. These processes exploit stress relaxation in prestretched elastomeric platforms to affect transformation of 2D precursors into 3D shapes by in- and out-of-plane translational displacements. This paper introduces a scheme for introducing local twisting deformations into this process, thereby providing access to 3D mesostructures that have strong, local levels of chirality and other previously inaccessible geometrical features. Here, elastomeric assembly platforms segmented into interconnected, rotatable units generate in-plane torques imposed through bonding sites at engineered locations across the 2D precursors during the process of stress relaxation. Nearly 2 dozen examples illustrate the ideas through a diverse variety of 3D structures, including those with designs inspired by the ancient arts of origami/kirigami and with layouts that can morph into different shapes. A mechanically tunable, multilayered chiral 3D metamaterial configured for operation in the terahertz regime serves as an application example guided by finite-element analysis and electromagnetic modeling.