![]() ![]() Although not a requirement for the realization of photoinduced deformation in polymers, considerable recent attention has focused on examinations of azobenzene-functionalized liquid crystalline polymer networks (azo-LCNs) and elastomers (azo-LCEs). Photomechanical effects in polymers and crystalline materials have been subject to a number of recent reviews 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Photomechanical effects in crystalline materials have also been subject to recent research, including demonstrations of bending, jumping and twisting 5, 6. Many recent examinations have examined materials in which the azobenzene chromophore is covalently bonded or doped as a guest into a polymer network 3, 4. ![]() Of the potential stimuli capable of remotely powering a system, light is also appealing due to the speed, ease of temporal control and opportunity to spatially localize the mechanical response 2. One recent study reports gait induced with temporally modulated magnetic fields 1. Accordingly, remotely and wirelessly powered actuation is appealing for achieving sustained locomotion in miniaturized systems. In miniaturized systems, the weight penalty of power sources can be prohibitive. As with the organisms that inspire the mechanical design, soft robots and the subsystems that compose them must efficiently source and transduce energy into sufficient impulses to exceed the threshold power-to-weight ratio for translation. ![]()
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