Liquid crystals power artificial muscles for robots
From left: Professor Hamed Shahsavan and MASc student Matthew Scarfo
A research group led by Chemical Engineering Professor Hamed Shahsavan has developed a method to reinforce smart, rubber-like materials—paving the way for their use as artificial muscles in robots, potentially replacing traditional rigid motors and pumps.
“Artificial muscles are essential for unlocking the true potential of soft robots. Unlike rigid components, they allow robots to move flexibly, safely, and with precision. This is especially important for advanced applications like micromedical robots,” said Shahsavan.
The research group mixed liquid crystals (LCs) often used in displays for electronics and sensors into liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), which are promising building blocks for soft robots.
LCEs are rubbers that experience massive shape-change when heated, in a reversible but programmable manner. When a tiny amount of LCs were mixed with LCEs, they became much stiffer, up to nine times stronger than before.
Animation depicting how the LCs make the LCEs nine times stronger
MASc student Sahad Vasanji
“This method is the simplest yet the most robust proven strategy to stiffen LCEs without sacrificing their programmable nature,” says Shahsavan, Director of the Smart Materials for Advanced Robotic Technologies-Lab. “The process enhances the materials’ mechanical performance and makes them better suited for applications like artificial muscles in soft robotics.”
The research group included Professor Tizazu Mekonnen, a chemical engineering professor at the University of Waterloo, MASc students Sahad Vasanji, and Matthew Scarfo, Professor M.O. Saed from the University of Cambridge, and Professor Antal Jakli from Kent State University.
The research group's next steps are to use these materials as inks for 3D printing of artificial muscles.
The study , Stiffening Liquid Crystal Elastomers with Liquid Crystal Inclusions was recently published in Advanced Materials Journal.