Imagine an iPad that’s more than just an iPad—with a surface that can morph and deform, allowing you to draw 3D designs, create haiku that jump out from the screen and even hold your partner’s hand from an ocean away.
That’s the vision of a team of engineers from CU Boulder. In a new study, they’ve created a one-of-a-kind shape-shifting display that fits on a card table. The device is made from a 10-by-10 grid of soft robotic “muscles” that can sense outside pressure and pop up to create patterns. It’s precise enough to generate scrolling text and fast enough to shake a chemistry beaker filled with fluid.
It may also deliver something even rarer: the sense of touch in a digital age.
“As technology has progressed, we started with sending text over long distances, then audio and now video,” said Brian Johnson, one of two lead authors of the new study who earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering at CU Boulder in 2022. “But we’re still missing touch.”
Johnson and his colleagues described their shape display July 31 in the journal "Nature Communications."
The group’s innovation builds off a class of soft robots pioneered by a team led by Christoph Keplinger, formerly an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at CU Boulder. They’re called Hydraulically Amplified Self-Healing ELectrostatic (HASEL) actuators. The prototype display isn’t ready for the market yet. But the researchers envision that, one day, similar technologies could lead to sensory gloves for virtual gaming or a smart conveyer belt that can undulate to sort apples from bananas.
“You could imagine arranging these sensing and actuating cells into any number of different shapes and combinations,” said Mantas Naris, co-lead author of the paper and a doctoral student in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering. “There’s really no limit to what these technologies could, ultimately, lead to.”
Playing the accordion
The project has its origins in the search for a different kind of technology: synthetic organs.
In 2017, researchers led by Mark Rentschler, professor of mechanical engineering and biomedical engineering, secured funding from the National Science Foundation to develop what they call sTISSUE—squishy organs that behave and feel like real human body parts but are made entirely out of silicone-like materials. Co-investigators on the grant include Keplinger, now a director at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Germany; Nikolaus Correll, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science at CU Boulder; and Sean Humbert, professor of mechanical engineering.
“You could use these artificial organs to help develop medical devices or surgical robotic tools for much less cost than using real animal tissue,” said Rentschler, a co-author of the new study.
In developing that technology, however, the team landed on the idea of a tabletop display. The research is part of the Materials Science & Engineering Program.
The group’s design is about the size of a Scrabble game board and, like one of those boards, is composed of small squares arranged in a grid. In this case, each one of the 100 squares is an individual HASEL actuator. The actuators are made of plastic pouches shaped like tiny accordions. If you pass an electric current through them, fluid shifts around inside the pouches, causing the accordion to expand and jump up.
The actuators also include soft, magnetic sensors that can detect when you poke them. That allows for some fun activities, said Johnson, now a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems.
“Because the sensors are magnet-based, we can use a magnetic wand to draw on the surface of the display,” he said.
Other research teams have developed similar smart tablets, but the CU Boulder display is softer, takes up a lot less room and is much faster. Each of its robotic muscles can activate as much as 50 times per second.
The researchers are focusing now on shrinking the actuators to increase the resolution of the display—almost like adding more pixels to a computer screen.
“Imagine if you could load an article onto your phone, and it renders as Braille on your screen,” Naris said.
The group is also working to flip the display inside out. That way, engineers could design a glove that pokes your fingertips, allowing you to “feel” objects in virtual reality.
And, Rentschler said, the display can bring something else: a little peace and quiet.
“Our system is, essentially, silent. The actuators make almost no noise.”
Other CU Boulder co-authors of the new study include mechanical engineering graduate students Vani Sundaram, Angella Volchko and Khoi Ly; and alumni Shane Mitchell, Eric Acome and Nick Kellaris.
Fikiria iPad ambayo ni zaidi ya tu iPad na uso kwamba unaweza morph na deform, kuruhusu wewe kuchora miundo 3D, kuunda haiku kwamba kuruka nje ya screen na hata kushikilia mpenzi wako mkono kutoka bahari mbali. Hiyo ni maono ya timu ya wahandisi kutoka CU Boulder. Katika utafiti mpya, wameunda kioo cha kipekee kinachoweza kubadilisha umbo ambacho kinaweza kuwekwa kwenye meza ya kadi. Kifaa hicho kimeundwa kwa gridi ya 10x10 ya misuli laini ya roboti ambayo inaweza kuhisi shinikizo la nje na kuibuka ili kuunda mifumo. Ni sahihi vya kutosha kuzalisha maandishi scrolling na haraka ya kutosha kutikisa kikombe kemia kujazwa na kioevu. Pia inaweza kutoa kitu cha nadra zaidi: hisia ya kugusa katika enzi ya dijiti. "Kama teknolojia imeendelea, tulianza na kutuma maandishi kwa umbali mrefu, kisha sauti na sasa video,"" alisema Brian Johnson, mmoja wa waandishi wawili wakuu wa utafiti mpya ambaye alipata udaktari wake katika uhandisi wa mashine katika CU Boulder mnamo 2022. """ "Lakini bado tunakosa kugusa. "" Johnson na wenzake walielezea maonyesho yao ya umbo Julai 31 katika jarida la ""Mazingira Communications.""" Uvumbuzi wa kikundi hicho unategemea darasa la roboti laini zilizotengenezwa na timu iliyoongozwa na Christoph Keplinger, aliyekuwa profesa msaidizi wa uhandisi wa mashine katika Chuo Kikuu cha Boulder. Wao ni kuitwa Hydraulically Amplified Self-Healing Electrostatic (HASEL) actuators. Onyesho la mfano halijajitayarisha kwa soko bado. Watafiti wanafikiria kuwa siku moja teknolojia kama hizo zinaweza kuongoza kwenye kinga za hisi za michezo ya kubahatisha, au mkanda wa kusafirisha smart ambao unaweza kuteleza kutenganisha apples kutoka kwa ndizi. "Unaweza kufikiria kupanga seli hizi za kuhisi na kuendesha katika idadi yoyote ya maumbo na mchanganyiko tofauti", alisema Mantas Naris, mwandishi mwenza wa karatasi na mwanafunzi wa udaktari katika Idara ya Uhandisi wa Mashine ya Paul M. Rady. <unk>Hakuna kikomo cha kile teknolojia hizi zinaweza, hatimaye, kusababisha.<unk> Kucheza accordion Mradi huo una asili yake katika utafutaji wa aina tofauti ya teknolojia: viungo vya synthetic. "Mwaka 2017, watafiti wakiongozwa na Mark Rentschler, profesa wa uhandisi wa mashine na uhandisi wa biomedical, walipata fedha kutoka kwa Shirika la Sayansi la Kitaifa ili kuendeleza kile wanachoita ""viungo vya sTISU"" ambavyo vinajiendesha na kuhisi kama sehemu halisi za mwili wa binadamu lakini vimetengenezwa kabisa kutoka kwa vifaa kama silicone." Mtaalamu wa teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia. "Unaweza kutumia viungo hivi vya bandia kusaidia kuendeleza vifaa vya matibabu au zana za upasuaji za roboti kwa gharama ya chini zaidi kuliko kutumia tishu halisi ya mnyama", alisema Rentschler, mwandishi mwenza wa utafiti mpya. Hata hivyo, katika kuendeleza teknolojia hiyo, timu hiyo ilipata wazo la kuonyesha picha kwenye meza. Utafiti huo ni sehemu ya Programu ya Sayansi na Uhandisi wa Vifaa. Muundo wa kikundi hicho ni wa ukubwa wa ubao wa mchezo wa Scrabble na, kama moja ya bodi hizo, unajumuisha mraba mdogo uliopangwa katika gridi. Katika kesi hii, kila moja ya 100 mraba ni mtu binafsi HASEL actuator. Vifaa hivyo vimetengenezwa kwa mifuko ya plastiki yenye umbo la akordioni ndogo. Ikiwa unapitisha umeme kupitia vifuniko hivyo, umajimaji hubadilika-badilika ndani ya vifuniko hivyo, na hivyo kufanya ala hiyo ya muziki ipanuke na kuruka juu. Vifaa hivyo pia vina sensorer laini za sumaku ambazo zinaweza kugundua unapozibonyeza. "Hiyo inatoa fursa ya kufanya shughuli za kufurahisha,"" alisema Johnson, ambaye sasa ni mtafiti wa baada ya udaktari katika Taasisi ya Max Planck ya Mifumo ya Akili." "Kwa sababu sensorer ni sumaku-msingi, tunaweza kutumia wand sumaku kuchora juu ya uso wa kuonyesha", alisema. Timu nyingine za utafiti zimeunda vidonge vya smart vinavyofanana, lakini kuonyesha kwa CU Boulder ni laini, inachukua nafasi kidogo na ni ya haraka zaidi. Kila kiungo cha mwili kinaweza kuendesha mara 50 kwa sekunde. Watafiti sasa wanazingatia kupunguza vipimo vya kuonyesha ili kuongeza azimio la kuonyesha - karibu kama kuongeza pikseli zaidi kwenye skrini ya kompyuta. "Hebu wazia ikiwa ungeweza kupakia makala kwenye simu yako, na itaonekana kama Braille kwenye skrini yako", Naris alisema. Kikundi hicho pia kinafanya kazi ya kugeuza kioo hicho kiwe cha ndani na cha nje. Kwa njia hiyo, wahandisi wangeweza kubuni glavu ambayo huchoma ncha za vidole vyako, ikikuruhusu " kuhisi " vitu katika hali halisi. Na, Rentschler alisema, maonyesho yanaweza kuleta kitu kingine: amani na utulivu kidogo. <unk>Mfumo wetu ni, kimsingi, kimya. "Wanafunzi wa chuo kikuu cha Boulder, Vani Sundaram, Angela Volchko na Khoi Ly, na wanafunzi wa zamani wa chuo kikuu cha Boulder, Shane Mitchell, Eric Acom na Nick Kellaris, waliandika katika jarida hilo: ""Kuna uwezekano mkubwa kwamba teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia ya teknolojia."