Lupine Publishers| Buckling Behaviour of Protein Microtubules

 Lupine Publishers| Journal of Robotics and Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

Protein microtubules take part in several cellular activities including mitosis, cell movement and migration. During these cellular activities, they can be subject to various types of external loading and pressure. In this study, the bucking of protein microtubules obtained via scale-dependent continuum models are investigated. Several continuum-based formulations, which have been proposed for the buckling of protein microtubules, are reviewed briefly. Finally, the effects of surface elastic properties on the growth rate of buckling in protein microtubules are studied.

Keywords: Protein microtubules; Buckling; Axial loading; Size effects

Introduction

Size effects have a crucial role to play in the statics and dynamics of various ultra-small structures [1-6]. On the other hand, the mechanics of nanostructures [7-14] and microstructures [15-26] is of high importance due to their applications in different nanomechanical and micromechanical systems such as Nano sensors and nanoactuators. Therefore, developing sizedependent mathematical frameworks for analyzing the statics and dynamics of both nanostructures and microstructures would provide a useful tool in nanoengineering and microengineering. Protein microtubules are one of the most important parts of living cells, which participate in many processes inside cells [27,28]. For instance, in the process of mitosis, microtubules help chromosomes to separate and migrate into two opposite positions. In addition, these filaments provide a reliable pathway for protein transportation inside cells. In these processes, microtubules are likely to be subject to various loads such as axial compression. In this study, the buckling instability of protein microtubules under axial compressive loads is investigated. Different size-dependent models of these small-scale structures are also reviewed.

Buckling of Microtubules

Let us consider a single microtubule of length L, inner radius Ri and outer radius Ro. The microtubule has a hollow cylindrical geometry and consists of α and β tubulins, as shown in (Figure 1). It has been proven that size influences have a significant impact on the mechanica0000000l behavior at small-scales [29-36]. Since the inner and outer radii of microtubules are of several nanometers, the nonlocal theory is mostly used to describe size influences. The nonlocal theory is an elasticity-based theoretical tool, which was first utilized by Peddieson et al. [37] for the deformation of nanostructures. According to this theory, we have the following differential equation for the constitutive response of microtubules.

Figure 1: The structure of a protein microtubule.

In which σ , C and ε are, respectively, the stress, elasticity and strain tensors; moreover, ∇2 and e0lc stand for the Laplace operator and nonlocal constant, respectively; also, l_c and e₀ are symbols, which are used for calibrating the model and incorporating the effects of the internal configuration of the structure [38,39]. In addition to nonlocal effects, surface influences have a crucial role to play in the mechanics of ultra small structures such as microtubules. At nanoscales, surface influences become important since the ratio of the surface energy to its bulk counterpart substantially increases. For the microtubule, there are two different surface layers (i.e. outer and inner surface layers). To incorporate surface influences, the following equations can be utilized [40,41].

Here “sur” is employed to indicate “surface”. λ_sur is the residual stress in surface layers [42], and ∧ represents the microtubule surface energy density. Figure 2 depicts the dimensionless growth rate of buckling in protein microtubules [43] subject to axial compression. Calculations are conducted for various surface elastic constants [40]. The horizontal axis of the figure denotes the instability wave number. It is concluded that the growth rate of buckling in microtubules decreases when the elastic constant of surface layers increases. This is because of the fact that the surface elastic constant is associated with an increase in the microtubule stiffness.

Figure 2: Buckling behaviour of microtubules for different surface elastic constants [40].

Conclusion

The buckling instability of microtubules in human cells has been investigated via scale-dependent theoretical models. Two main scale-dependent theories for the statics and dynamics of microtubules (i.e., surface and nonlocal theories of elasticity) were reviewed briefly. Finally, the influences of buckling wave number and surface elastic constant on the buckling behaviour were studied. It was concluded that higher surface elastic constants substantially reduce the growth rate of buckling in the protein microtubule.

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Lupine Publishers| Pivotal of Artificial Intelligence for Next Level Medical Practices

 Lupine Publishers| Journal of Robotics and Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

Now a Days Artificial Intelligence (A.I) Science, technology and Engineering near to peak point with spreading lot of new opportunities, facilities, and possibilities to make human life more to most comfortable and easy. Hence same also applicable in medical researches and practices zone. Below I have showcased one informative model to discuss what are the possibilities, Opportunities and openings of A.I in the medical fields.

Keywords: Deep Mind, AI, USN, SAI, UAI, loT, RFID

Abbreviations: AI: Artificial Intelligence; USN: Ubiquitous Serving Networks; IoT: Internet of Things; RFID: Radio Frequency Identifications; NLP: Natural Languages Processing; DSS: Decision Support System

Short Communication

It is really correct to say manmade AI become more advanced from God made Natural Intelligence (NI) because of high degree of sensation, accuracy and task with high speed, calibration and precise control with time management, therefore not now, but from very beginning stage A.I widely used and implemented in medical practices and healthcare related diagnosis and treatment, but scope was limited [1-3]. Hence now a days due to next level advancement in A.I with high speed processors, U.A.I, S.A.I, Bionic processors, Deep Mind learning, machine learning advanced natural languages processing (NLP), Image processing, speech / smell scanning and recognition it’s became most useful in medical practices and researches and acting as backbone of it as display in model like A.I based body organs implant like Artificial heart, lungs, kidney, eyes, etc. Another Useful domain is cyborgs/ cybernetics or simply “cybermatics organs” where disabled human body parts replaced with A.I based parts or sometime replacement for the reason to boost power like cyborg hand, legs etc. next one domain to focus robotics surgery and external body operation of patients with precise control and accuracy in less time [4].

Now days instead of manual or semi-automatic control fully A.I control life support system engineered for precise monitoring and save lives. Not only A.I based hardware’s, but also A.I based medical software are engineered like medical diagnosis support system to examine various parameters and symptoms of patients like viral infection, root causes of diseases, blood pressure , heart beats monitoring as well as same system has inbuilt decision support system(DSS) to provide alternative treatment decisions to doctors after examine /checkups [5-7]. At several places where lack of physical doctors availability A.I based artificial doctors possible to engineer with various specialist like, nephrologist, gynecologist, cardiologist etc. which are the prototype of successful doctors with their natural intelligence (N.I) mapped and engineered with Artificial Intelligence which function exactly same like original one , hence availability of single one successful doctors skills / expertise of several places artificially . It is also possible and happened to A.I based Nano robots which insert inside the body for complicated scanning/ tracing and diagnosis where external mechanism fails to do so [8]. In last I would like to switch your attention towards the field in which you can refer my papers available online, using A.I and IoT in this concept A.I based software through IoT can perform same surgical operation around the world hospital stations with commands and controls successfully using RFIDs and USN Connected with satellite and IoT [9] (Figure 1).

Figure 1:

Acknowledgement

I would specially acknowledge this work to my Sister Azra Sadiya who helped me while I am preparing script for typing help due to my busy schedule. I would like to credit this work to my loving wife Safeena Khan, my angels Md. Nameer Shaikh, Md. Shadaan Shaikh and my loving friend Tanveer Sayyed.

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Lupine Publishers| Magnus Force in Inertial Microfluidics-Based Devices

 Lupine Publishers| Journal of Robotics and Mechanical Engineering

 

Abstract

In this paper, the influences of Magnus force on the behaviour of small particles inside a microfluidics- based device are theoretically investigated. The Magnus force is a lift force, which is caused by the rotation of particles within fluid flow. Explicit relations are presented for calculating the Magnus force exerted on small particles inside fluid flow with small Reynolds numbers. Moreover, the effects of the radius of a particle on the Magnus force are discussed. The obtained results and formulation would be helpful in the design of inertial microfluidics-based devices.

Keywords: Inertial Microfluidics; Particle Separation; Magnus Force; Microsystems 

Introduction

Microtechnology and nanotechnology [1-8]. have many promising applications in various areas of science and medicine. Particularly, in medicine, novel diagnosis and treatment techniques have been introduced using microscale and nanoscale devices [9]. These techniques are ultra-fast, portable, less costly and easy to use compared to traditional techniques [10]. In addition, in engineering, microscale structures [11-23]. and nanoscale structures [24-31]. have been utilized to fabricate microscale and nanoscale devices such as ultra small actuators, sensors and energy harvesters. Among different microscale systems, inertial microfluidics-based devices have attracted much interest from scientific communities due to their potential for the separation of particles and fluids at ultra-small levels. When a particle travels inside the channel of a microfluidics-based device, it is subject to several forces such as drag, diffusion, Saffman and Magnus forces. In this paper, Magnus force, as one of important forces in a group of microfluidics-based devices, is investigated. A mathematical explicit relation is given for the Magnus force. Furthermore, the effect of particle radius on the Magnus force is studied in detail.

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Lupine Publishers | Whishing You A Happy Thanksgiving Day

 

Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.

Lupine Publishers | Robotics in Education and Training

 Lupine Publishers | Advances in Robotics & Mechanical Engineering

Introduction

In Finland, a new teacher called Elias at primary school who has endless patience for repetition and never creates a pupil feel humiliated for asking same question again and again and can even do “Gangnam Style” dance. Elias is also robot. The Artificial Intelligence language machine includes a humanoid robot at primary schools in southern city of Tampere. This robot can able to understand and speak 23 different languages and it also allows to understand student’s requirements and helps to inspire learning. It recognizes student’s skill levels and adjusts its questions accordingly and gives feedback to teachers about pupil’s possible problems. Below are some of few from many applications of robots that can be used in education, teaching and training. [1].

Teaching Robots are More Consistent Teammates

Scholars at U.S. Army Research Laboratory and Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University have created completely a new design to teach robots with innovative traversal behaviors with very low human intervention. This kind of technology allows portable platforms to navigate autonomously in various environments. Researchers focused their initial research and development in learning robot traversal performance with respect to robot’s visual perception of territory and objects in the environment; robot was trained how to navigate from various stand point in the environment while staying near the edge of the road and to traverse covertly using buildings as cover. As per scholars, these robots were given various mission tasks, the most appropriate learned traversal behavior can be started during operation of the mission. This can be accomplished by leveraging optimal control that is referred as inverse reinforcement learning, it is a class of machine learning that looks to recover a reward function. If a robot acts as a teammate, then multiple tasks can be achieved faster with better precision and more situational awareness can be achieved.” was confirmed by Wigness [2] (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Illustrates a small unmanned Clear path Husky robot, which was used by ARL researchers to develop a new technique to quickly teach robots novel traversal behaviors with minimal human oversight. Image Credit: US Army [2].

Robots Can Boosts Children’s Education

Educational Robots play a vital role in educating young people but may not replace human teachers completely. As per researchers, scientist say that social robots are demonstrating effective in teaching certain narrow subjects, for instance vocabulary or prime numbers. This study collected in concurrence with academics and involved a review of more than 100 published articles which have shown robots to be effective at increasing outcomes because of their physical presence. However, it also says that leading social robots into the school course would face significant logistical challenges and may carry risks with some children been seen to rely completely on the robots rather than simply using them when they are in difficulty. Authors of study also add “Considering practical considerations of introducing robots in education also brings ethical issues. For example, how far do we want the education of our children to be delegated to machines?” [3,4] (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Illustrates one of the robots used in the University of Plymouth’s Robo21c program, which aims to complement to the school curriculum by developing teachers’ skills and understanding of robotics and programming. Image Credit: University of Plymouth [4].

Programming Robots Just by Casual Talking

Robots are getting smarter day by day, but they still need step by step instructions for tasks they didn’t implemented before. For example, before you tell your household robot “make me a bowl of ramen noodles” you may have to teach it how to do that. Since we are not all computer programmers, we would prefer to give instructions in English just like we talk to a person. The robot may have built in programming language with look (pan); use (pan); carry (pan, water tap); fill up (pan, water); carry (pan, heater) and so on. In this research, this software convert’s human sentences such as “Fill a pan with water, put it on the heater, heat the water. When it’s in boiling state, add the noodles” in the robot language. If you had notice you never said, “Turn on the heater.” The robot has to be smart enough to fill in that missing step. The robot accomplished correctly up to 64 percent of the time even when the commands were varied, or environment was different; it was able to perform missing steps. That was three to four times better than previous methods, the researchers reported, but there is still room for improvement [5] (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Illustrates a computer science professor is teaching robots to understand instructions in natural language from various speakers, account for missing information, and adapt to the environment at hand. Image Credit: Image courtesy of Cornell University [5].

Robots and Kids Learn Together

The Robotic software is based on learning by teaching. When children experience problems in writing they may easily lose confidence and gradually lose interest in learning process. Eventually, their complete education can be affected. When students put themselves in the place of instructor and pass on what they know to their peers, they can regain self-esteem and motivation. Researchers constructed an advanced writing algorithm and implemented them on an existing robot model. With all these algorithms, machine can draw words on demand and then eventually improve. But to do, it uses a very vast database of handwriting examples, which allows it to reproduce common mistakes made by young children while learning. It can also be possible to program the robot so that it addresses the specific difficulties of a student, for example by drawing that is barely readable and improving its form over time. The robotic system is still in the prototype stage that has already been used in primary school lessons with around seventy students ranging from six to eight years old and then individually with a six-year-old child for one hour per week over one month [6] (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Illustrates Kids and robots learning to write together. Image Credit: Image from video courtesy of Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne [6].

Robotic Help for Deaf Children

Swivel is tunable robot which is placed on a tablet or iPad. It is placed in the classroom and turns to follow people talking. It then uploads video to a secure cloud for streaming. This novel device was developed by University of Manchester and their team to help assess classroom training for students on its deaf education course. This program requires trainees to be assessed in the classroom. The Swivl technology has been used in three locations with five students. The footage is then uploaded to the cloud and forms part of the external, independent assessment process. Then students were able to use the recordings to review their own work in the classroom and imitate on their learning – something that they cannot do on traditional placements. The team is estimating the experiences of both the students and supervisors in order to understand how they can improve and extend the use of the technology [7] (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Illustrates one of the trainees using the technology. Image Credit: The University of Manchester [7]. 

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Lupine Publishers | Robotic Farmers in Agriculture

 Lupine Publishers | Advances in Robotics & Mechanical Engineering

Introduction

Revolution of Robotic farmer is on the way, fruit picking machines are ready to roll into the fields and will replace human workers at one point of time. A Robot Farmer is just a one of the new technologies that will completely transform agriculture sector. Today’s agricultural technology helps farmers to plow and spray crops. In an improved automation and big data analytics with farming robot technology are pointing out to big benefits. Goldman Sachs estimates precision farming – the combination of agriculture and technology could be around $240 billion market by 2050. As per Euro monitor intersection of robotics, artificial intelligence, analytics and machines for precision farming is one of the top industry’s top opportunities. In Europe, Spanish company called Agrobot has developed a strawberry farming robot. It uses up to 24 robotic arms to pick fruit and is capable of autonomous navigation. In England, Dogtooth Technologies are developing its own series of autonomous robots capable of picking fruit. Dogtooth machines are proficient enough of autonomous navigation, locating and picking ripe fruit and grading its quality [1] (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Illustrates Harvesting CROO’s machine is headed for farms in Florida and California. Image Credit: Image courtesy of Harvest CROO Robotics [1].

Robotic Weeders

The increasing recognition of robotic weeders for specialty crops has grown – Specialty crops are vegetables like lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes and onions. These are not produced in mass like corn, soybeans and wheat. The reason for robotic weeders steams from two major issues. One is a deficiency of herbicides available for usage in specialty crops. Another issue; as a matter of fact hand-weeding has become more and more expensive. Without pesticides, growers have had to hire people to hand-weed vast fields. Hand weeding is very slow and increasing expensive, it can cost around $150-$30 per acre. That is one of the reasons some people look to robotic weeders. The robotic weeders are programmed to recognize a pattern and can differentiate between a plant and the soil. Although, they currently are having trouble to differentiate between a weed and a crop. The robotic weeders in the market cost between $120,000 and $175,000, it is a better longterm option than expensive hand weeding. Fennimore considers that robotic weeders are the future of weeding for specialty crops. The reason because of higher labor costs and more incentives to grow organically with less pesticides. European growers have been using robotic weeders for a while [2] (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Illustrates robotic weeder is operating in a field near Santa Maria, CA. Image Credit: Image courtesy of Steven Fennimore [2].

Harvesting Cucumbers Through Robots

In automation areas for instance, automotive industry are not the only ones to depend on robots. In agriculture, automation systems are surpassing strenuous manual labor. As a project, the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology developed and tested a dual arm robotic system for automated harvesting of cucumbers. In Germany, cucumbers are ordained for pickles that are harvested with the aid of “cucumber flyers” – a farm vehicles with wing like add-ons. Many of the country’s agricultural regions subsequently face an uncertain future; cucumber farming has already begun moving to Eastern Europe and India. Thus, there is a pressing requirement for improved harvesting technologies to maintain economic viability of cucumber farming in Germany. Experts developed a dual arm robot system consisting of inexpensive light modules. This system is used for automated cucumber farming and other agricultural applications. This Robotic cucumber picker is cost effective, high performance and dependable. Even in adverse weather, it is capable of first identifying ripe cucumbers and then using its two gripper arms to gently pick and store them. This novel method can also make it possible for to imitate human movements. Scientist want to make sure that it does not damage crops or pull to their roots out of the soil. This robotic cucumber harvester is as efficient as its experienced human counterpart, who can pick as many as 13 cucumbers per minute. Cucumber farmers and agricultural associations have expressed significant interest in the dual arm robot [3] (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Illustrates prototype of the dual-arm robot system during the first field tests. Image Credit: Fraunhofer IPK [3].

Harvesting Broccoli using Robots

This Project was jointly funded by BBSRC and create improvements in United Kingdom; in this 3D camera technology was used to recognize and select whether broccoli is ready for collecting. It is the key step towards the development of an automatic robotic harvesting system for broccoli, which will not only considerably decrease production costs but also decrease amount of labor cost. This project also addresses challenges associated with recognition, deterrence and management of disease by creating diagnostic tools for farm use and substitute to chemical pesticides. This will allow the major producers in these industries to rapidly analyze the existence of disease and enable earlier decision making. It is also expected that this development of project will create long-needed substitute to use of pesticides by mushroom and potato industries therefore ensuring future sustainability [4] (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Illustrates the TerraSentia robot that autonomously monitors crops earned the best systems paper award at Robotics: Science and Systems, the preeminent robotics conference held in Pittsburgh. Image Credit: TERRA-MEPP Project [6].

Counting Crop Using Robots

Crop breeders run large scale of trials comparing thousands of varieties of crops over hundreds of acres and measure key qualities, for instance emergence of plant, height, by hand. This task is expensive, inaccurate, time consuming and completely inadequate; team can only measure these manually by fraction of plants in a field. TerraSentia is a compact transportable robot weight about 24 pounds and 13 inch wide. It can capture each plant from to bottom using advanced suite of cameras, deep learning and complex algorithms. Using a method called learning method, experts taught TerraSentia to count corn plants with just 300 images. It is a TERRA-MEPP research task that is low cost phenotyping robot to recognize top performing crops. This research was controlled by the University of Illinois in collaboration with Cornell University and Signetron with sustenance from Advanced Research Project Agency – Energy [5,6].

Combatting Weeds by Laser Robots

Farmers who want rich harvest and need to drive weeds so that crops can cultivate better. In organic agriculture – herbicides are not considered as they are toxic chemicals and only unwanted plants should be arduously weeded out. This time-consuming work are taken care of laser robots. Computer Experts in Photogrammetry at University of Bonn have developed a new system using advanced cameras on all terrain robot vehicle or tractor add-on and unwanted wild weeds are automatically identified in various crops and taken out. Scientists are moving forward for their startup to develop the business plan for this novel technology and also working to buy the parts required for the project to construct a prototype. At University of Bonn, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, both founders won an award for the best novel technology. “The aim is to contribute in achieving more sustainable agriculture. The robot fires the leaves of unnecessary plants in the crops with short laser pulses, which weakens in their strength” [7].

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Lupine Publishers | Editorial on Self-Healing Robots

 Lupine Publishers | Advances in Robotics & Mechanical Engineering

Introduction

Scientists at University of Colorado, Boulder had developed a first and fully re-healable and recyclable electronic material. This novel technology functions like properties of human skin, capable of measuring pressure, temperature and vibration. Technically, it’s a self-healing Robot - For instance if robots are wrapped in an electronic material that mimics as human skin; theoretically it can also sense objects that is too hot or too cold or if more or less pressure needs to be exerted on an object. If this material is beyond repair, then it can be soaked in a solution that separates out the silver nanoparticles then be fully recycled into new usable material [1] (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Illustrates self-healing material developed at University of Colorado, Boulder. Image Credit: Quartz [1].

Self-Healing Robots Breakthrough

Many of natural organisms have the capability to heal themselves. Now, manmade machines will be able to imitate this phenomenon. In the research Carnegie Mellon University created a self-healing material that spontaneously heals itself even under extreme mechanical damage. The soft composite material is consisting of liquid metal droplets suspended in a soft elastomer. When it is broken, the droplets rupture to form a new arrangement with adjacent droplets and redirect electrical signals without any disruption. Circuits which are created with conductive traces of such kind of material remain entirely and continuously functioning when punctured, severed or material removed. Applications for this kind of novel technology includes bio-inspired robotics, wearable, computing human and machine interaction. Because material also exhibits high electrical conductivity; it does not change when starched, theoretically, it is ideal for use in power and data transmission.

“If we have to build machines that are more compatible with the human body and natural atmosphere, then we have to begin with new material types” was confirmed by the author of the study [2,3] (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Illustrates a digital clock continues to run as damaged circuits instantaneously heal themselves, rerouting electrical signals without interruption. Image Credit: Nature Materials [3].

Delicate, Soft and Self-Healing Robot

A new class of delicate and soft, electrically activated robots are capable of imitating the expansion and contraction of natural muscles. These robots which can be designed from a wide range of low-cost materials and are able to self-sense and self-heal from electrical damage, representing a major advance in soft robotics. A challenge in the field of “soft robotics” that can imitate the versatility and performance. Nevertheless, Keplinger Research Group in the College of Engineering and Applied Science has created a novel method of a new class of soft robotics. This novel method of hydraulically intensified self-healing electrostatic actuators abjure bulky, rigid pistons and motors of conventional robots for soft structures that respond to applied voltage with comprehensive range of motions. These soft robots can accomplish a variety of jobs including holding subtle objects for instance, raspberry and a raw egg as well as lifting heavy objects. These new tech robots actuators exceed the strength, speed and efficiency of biological muscle and their flexibility. In addition to assisting as hydraulic fluid which supports flexible movements, the use of liquid insulating layer enables robots’ actuators to self-heal from electrical damage. Another soft actuator that are controlled by high voltage, also known as dielectric elastomer actuators; it utilizes a solid insulating layer that fails catastrophically from electrical damage [4-6] (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Illustrates actuators can be designed as soft grippers to handle and manipulate delicate objects, like this raspberry. Image Credit: Keplinger Lab / University of Colorado Boulder [6].

Graphene for Artificial Skin in Self-Healing Robots

Graphene is a sheet of pure carbon atoms and it is known as world’s strongest material; it is one million times thinner than paper. It is so thin that it can be viewed as two dimensional. Although, it’s hefty price, graphene has become most favorable nanomaterials due to its unique and multipurpose applications. One of the organs in the human body; skin is known for its fascinating self-healing properties. Imitating this phenomenon has proved too much of work as manmade materials lack this technology. Due to stretching or bending and incidental scratches, artificial skin used in robots are too much susceptible to ruptures and fissures. In this study a novel solution where a sub-nano sensor uses graphene to sense a crack as soon as it starts nucleation even after the crack has spread a certain distance. Scientist subjected a single layer graphene comprising various issues like pre-existing vacancies and inversely oriented pre-existing cracks to uniaxial tensile loading till fracture. Once it is completed, graphene started to heal and the self-healing continued irrespective of the nature of pre-existing issues in the graphene sheet. Not to mention, whatever the length of crack, they were all healed; provided the critical crack opening distance are within 0.3 to 0.5nm for pristine sheet and sheet with pre-existing defects [7,8].

Wolverine Inspired Material for Self-Healing Robot

Researchers at University of California, Riverside designed a novel method of an ionic conductor, that means material that ions can flow through and it is mechanically stretchable, transparent and self-healing. These materials have wide variety of applications in extensive range of fields. It can give robots to self-heal after mechanical failure. It also extends the lifetime of lithium ion batteries used in electronics and electric cars; and improve biosensors that are used in medical and environmental fields. This material was inspired by wound healing in nature, self-healing materials repair the damage caused by wear and extend the lifetime and in turn lowering the cost of the device. Ionic conductors are a class of materials with vital roles in energy storage, sensors, solar energy conversion and electronic devices.

The vital problem is the identification of bonds that are stable and reversible under electrochemical conditions. Traditionally, selfregenerative polymers utilize non-covalent bonds which makes it difficult because these bonds are affected by electrochemical reactions that decreases the performance of the materials. Wang solved that critical problem by utilizing a novel mechanism that is known as ion-dipole interactions; the forces between charged ions and polar molecules that are highly stable under electrochemical conditions. In this method, he joined a stretchable polymer with mobile and high ionic strength salt to create material with the properties that scientist was searching. It is a low cost and can be easily produce soft rubber like material that can stretch 50 times its original length. If it has been cut, it can completely heal in 24 hours at room temperature. As a matter of fact, after only five minutes of healing the material can be stretched two times its original length [9,10] (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Illustrates showing self-healing via ion-dipole interaction. Image Credit: University of Colorado, Boulder [10].

Robots That Can Morph Metal Shapes

Researchers created a novel hybrid material that is stiff metal, soft and porous rubber foam that integrates the best properties of stiffness and as well as elasticity when a change of shape is necessary. This material also has the capability of self-heal if damaged. This material integrates with the soft alloy called Field’s metal with a porous silicone foam and the rigidity and load bearing capability of humans with the capability to drastically alter shape, like an octopus. In addition to this, its melting point is 144 degrees Fahrenheit, the major reason Field’s metal was taken because it has no lead in it. The elastomer foam is immersed into a molten metal then it is placed in a vacuum so that the air in the foam’s pores are removed and interchanged by the alloy. The foam had pore sizes of around 2 millimeters that can be adjusted to make a stiffer or more flexible material. In testing of its strength and elasticity the material ability was deformed when heated above 144 degrees, then it regained rigidity when cooled; then it returned to its original shape and strength when reheated [11,12] (Figure 5).

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