Kinetic Electronics Based Soft Micro Robot with Surface Mounted Integration Circuit for Multiplex Control

In this research, an electro thermal bimorph actuator with a shift register mounted in the drive unit was developed to simplify and downsize the control circuit of a soft robot. While conventional soft robots have flexible and adaptable characteristics, they require complex wiring and assembly processes, making large-scale mass production and miniaturization difficult. In this research utilized a kinetic electronics technology to develop a film robot that can control multiple actuators via parallel communication by incorporating signal processing integrated circuit (IC) chips. In the experiment, electro thermal bimorph actuator films were fabricated using polypropylene (OPP) and polyimide (PI) films, and a Texas Instruments surface-mount logic IC chip was attached to the film robot using conductive adhesive. In addition, electronic circuits were patterned by Au sputtering to control the actuators via shift registers. As a result of the experiment, it was confirmed that all actuators operated accurately through the shift register. This demonstrated that parallel signal conversion is possible through parallel communication using shift registers with multi-level connections using a small number of wires. This enables parallel signal conversion through multistage connections while reducing the number of wires connected to an external power supply, thereby simplifying and downsizing the control circuit of the soft robot. The results of this research will contribute to the design of next-generation soft robots, which are expected to realize more complex movements and advanced miniaturization. In the future, along with further expansion of the range of applications, practical use is expected in diverse fields, such as handling biological specimens and assembling micro-components.