Transient Soft Robots with Transient Electronics

The rise of futuristic soft robots has led to an increase in robotic waste, posing a challenge to global sustainability efforts. Use of composite and thermoset materials, multilayered and miniature structures, and integrated functional electronics interferes with the recycling and repairing of the soft robots. Recently, transient electronics and robots that disappear without waste after a specified period of use have garnered significant attention as a sustainable alternative. However, most of the previously reported transient electronics and robots start degrading only after being exposed to specific environments, such as underground or underwater, making the control of degradation dependent solely on the dissolution rate in these environments. Therefore, we developed an electronic and soft robot system that can be degraded by photo-acid generator (PAG) with light stimulation at the user's desired time. This paper reviews our preliminary results on the material composition, degradation mechanism, and application cases including hardware security, of the photodegradable or phototriggerable transient electronics and soft robot system.