Stretching the Limits: Tsinghua University’s Revolutionary Hydrogel Sets a New Standard for Soft Robotics

The development of a new type of hydrogel by researchers at Tsinghua University in Beijing has the potential to revolutionize the field of soft robotics. Lili Chen and her team have created a hydrogel that is both stretchy and maintains its original shape, thanks to the addition of pearl-necklace chains made of coiled polymer beads connected by a chain of carbon atoms.

These chains are able to unfurl under strain and rewind when the strain is released, allowing the hydrogel to stretch to nearly 5 meters before quickly returning to its original length. A 2-centimeter-wide disc of the hydrogel was able to increase 100 times in area before returning to its original size.

The researchers also demonstrated how their hydrogel can be used to create inflatable robotic grippers, designed to handle delicate objects like strawberries. These grippers were extremely damage resistant, able to withstand being stood on or pierced with a needle.

Zehuan Huang at Peking University praised the work, stating that this hydrogel represents a major breakthrough in high-performance polymeric materials and will inspire interest in using hyper-elastic gels in soft robotics. This new material could have applications in areas such as medical devices and biotechnology, as well as in robotics and aerospace engineering.