Brubotics joined forces with FYSC to develop self-healing soft robots. While FYSC develops new building blocks for intrinsic autonomous and non-autonomous self-healing polymers, Brubotics validates this technology experimentally in several soft robotic demonstrators.
The line of research is very broad, ranging from the synthesis of new materials with or without fillers for additional functionality over the development of different processing techniques to the fabrication of autonomous self-healing soft robots with embedded self-healing sensors and heaters, and simulation across the value chain..
Soft robots are typically prone to damage and have thus a short lifetime. Moreover, they are often not reprocessable, nor recyclable. Thanks to this self-healing property, these robots can recover from scratches and damage, thereby overcoming this major issue.
Furthermore, are materials are mechanically and chemically recyclable.
In addition, these materials can be healed to each other, to provide optimal multimaterial adhesion, eliminating interface weakness between different materials. We also developed biobased variants and are in the process of developing biodegradable variants.
We are researching different applications beyond soft robotics such as seals, tires, etc.
prof. dr ir. Bram Vanderborght
bram.vanderborght@vub.be
+32 486 52 29 62
Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Elsene
Terryn, S., Brancart, J., Lefeber, D., Van Assche, G., & Vanderborght, B. (2017). Self-healing soft pneumatic robots. Science Robotics, 2(9).
https://robotics.sciencemag.org/content/2/9/eaan4268.full?ijkey=NldEhj0dsMsF2&keytype=ref&siteid=robotics
Roels, E., Terryn, S., Brancart, J., Verhelle, R., Van Assche, G., & Vanderborght, B. (2020). Additive manufacturing for self-healing soft robots. Soft robotics, 7(6), 711-723.
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/soro.2019.0081
Terryn, S., Brancart, J., Roels, E., Van Assche, G., & Vanderborght, B. (2020). Room Temperature Self-Healing in Soft Pneumatic Robotics: Autonomous Self-Healing in a Diels-Alder Polymer https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9288989
Terryn, S., Langenbach, J., Roels, E., Brancart, J., Bakkali-Hassani, C., Poutrel, Q. A., ... & Vanderborght, B. (2021). A review on self-healing polymers for soft robotics. Materials Today.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1369702121000080