Light active plastic glides in the air

Abstract

The continuous development of smart materials and photomechanical actuators has given novel possibilities to micro robotics. In addition to traditional walking, jumping and swimming capacities, locomotion in air through photomechanical control of aerodynamics is the frontier yet to be explored. Possible applications are foreseen in human rescue, artificial pollination, remote sensing and so on. The challenges lie in the difficulty of realizing light weight structure and stimuli-responsive element that can effectively influence the aerodynamics. Here, we demonstrate several nature-inspired passive structures that can “fly” in the air assisted by the wind flow. We will show a super light-weight hairy structure that can disperse and glides in the air. A photomechanical soft actuator made of liquid crystal elastomer is used to induced reversible geometry change. We will show the data of light induced shape-morphing in the polymer structure, and consequent results for tuning the terminal speed and dispersal/gliding behavior. The result provides a new method for light controlled mini-object passively flying in the sky.