Bio-Inspired Transparent Soft Jellyfish Robot

Jellyfish are among the widely distributed nature creatures that can effectively control the fluidic flow around their transparent soft body, thus achieving movements in the water and camouflage in the surrounding environments. Till now, it remains a challenge to replicate both transparent appearance and functionalities of nature jellyfish in synthetic systems due to the lack of transparent actuators. In this work, a fully transparent soft jellyfish robot is developed to possess both transparency and bio-inspired omni motions in water. This robot is driven by transparent dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) using hybrid silver nanowire networks and conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate)/waterborne polyurethane as compliant electrodes. The electrode exhibits large stretchability, low stiffness, high transmittance, and excellent conductivity at large strains. Consequently, the highly transparent DEA based on this hybrid electrode, with Very-High-Bond membranes as dielectric layers and polydimethylsiloxane as top coating, can achieve a maximum area strain of 146% with only 3% hysteresis loss. Driven by this transparent DEA, the soft jellyfish robot can achieve vertical and horizontal movements in water, by mimicking the actual pulsating rhythm of an Aurelia aurita. The bio-inspired robot can serve multiple functions as an underwater soft robot. The hybrid electrodes and bio-inspired design approach are potentially useful in a variety of soft robots and flexible devices.