Composite material
Related papers: 20
About
Composite materials are engineered substances formed by combining two or more constituent materials with distinct physical or chemical properties, producing a combined material with characteristics superior to any individual component alone. In robotics and AI, composites are central to developing soft actuators, flexible electronics, and smart structures — encompassing silicone-fabric laminates for pneumatic robots, hydrogel-elastomer hybrids for electronic skin, carbon nanotube films for pressure sensing, and ferromagnetic particle-embedded elastomers for magnetically driven shape change. These materials are fabricated through techniques including 3D printing, lithography, and chemical synthesis, and often integrate conductive, piezoelectric, self-healing, or shape-memory functionalities. Composites matter because they enable robots to move, sense, and interact with the physical world in ways that rigid materials cannot — delivering the compliance, stretchability, and biocompatibility needed for wearable devices, human-robot interaction, and operation in unstructured environments. By carefully tuning the combination of constituent materials, engineers can precisely program mechanical, electrical, and responsive behaviors into a single structure.
Top Researchers
Top Cited Papers
Skin-like pressure and strain sensors based on transparent elastic films of carbon nanotubes
Darren J. Lipomi, Michael Vosgueritchian, Benjamin C. K. Tee, Sondra Hellstrom, Jennifer A. Lee, Courtney H. Fox, Zhenan Bao
Citations: 3147 • 2011
Printing ferromagnetic domains for untethered fast-transforming soft materials
Yoonho Kim, Hyunwoo Yuk, Ruike Renee Zhao, Shawn A. Chester, Xuanhe Zhao
Citations: 2128 • 2018
Stretchable and Soft Electronics using Liquid Metals
Michael D. Dickey
Citations: 1703 • 2017
Printing soft matter in three dimensions
Ryan L. Truby, Jennifer A. Lewis
Citations: 1576 • 2016
Pneumatic Networks for Soft Robotics that Actuate Rapidly
Bobak Mosadegh, Panagiotis Polygerinos, Christoph Keplinger, Sophia Wennstedt, Robert F. Shepherd, Unmukt Gupta, Jongmin Shim, Katia Bertoldi, Conor J. Walsh, George M. Whitesides
Citations: 1557 • 2014
An electrically and mechanically self-healing composite with pressure- and flexion-sensitive properties for electronic skin applications
Benjamin C. K. Tee, Chao Wang, Ranulfo Allen, Zhenan Bao
Citations: 1405 • 2012
Conformable, flexible, large-area networks of pressure and thermal sensors with organic transistor active matrixes
Takao Someya, Yusaku Kato, Tsuyoshi Sekitani, Shingo Iba, Yoshiaki Noguchi, Yousuke Murase, Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Takayasu Sakurai
Citations: 1383 • 2005
Binary Strengthening and Toughening of MXene/Cellulose Nanofiber Composite Paper with Nacre-Inspired Structure and Superior Electromagnetic Interference Shielding Properties
Wentao Cao, Feifei Chen, Ying‐Jie Zhu, Yonggang Zhang, Yingying Jiang, Ming‐Guo Ma
Citations: 1304 • 2018
High performance piezoelectric devices based on aligned arrays of nanofibers of poly(vinylidenefluoride-co-trifluoroethylene)
Luana Persano, Canan Dağdeviren, Yewang Su, Yihui Zhang, Salvatore Girardo, Dario Pisignano, Yonggang Huang, John A. Rogers
Citations: 1234 • 2013
A Review of Shape Memory Polymers and Composites: Mechanisms, Materials, and Applications
Yuliang Xia, Yang He, Fenghua Zhang, Yanju Liu, Jinsong Leng
Citations: 1221 • 2020
Tough bonding of hydrogels to diverse non-porous surfaces
Hyunwoo Yuk, Teng Zhang, Shaoting Lin, German Alberto Parada, Xuanhe Zhao
Citations: 1131 • 2015
Tough and Water‐Insensitive Self‐Healing Elastomer for Robust Electronic Skin
Jiheong Kang, Donghee Son, Ging‐Ji Nathan Wang, Yuxin Liu, Jeffrey Lopez, Yeongin Kim, Jin Young Oh, Toru Katsumata, Jaewan Mun, Yeongjun Lee, Lihua Jin, Jeffrey B.‐H. Tok, Zhenan Bao
Citations: 1105 • 2018
A Resilient, Untethered Soft Robot
Michael T. Tolley, Robert F. Shepherd, Bobak Mosadegh, Kevin C. Galloway, Michael Wehner, Michael Karpelson, Robert J. Wood, George M. Whitesides
Citations: 1075 • 2014
Soft Materials by Design: Unconventional Polymer Networks Give Extreme Properties
Xuanhe Zhao, Xiaoyu Chen, Hyunwoo Yuk, Shaoting Lin, Xinyue Liu, German Alberto Parada
Citations: 1071 • 2021
An organic-inorganic perovskite ferroelectric with large piezoelectric response
Yu‐Meng You, Wei‐Qiang Liao, Dewei Zhao, Heng‐Yun Ye, Yi Zhang, Qionghua Zhou, Xianghong Niu, Jinlan Wang, Peng‐Fei Li, Da‐Wei Fu, Zhe‐Ming Wang, Song Gao, Kunlun Yang, Jun‐Ming Liu, Jiangyu Li, Yanfa Yan, Ren‐Gen Xiong
Citations: 1062 • 2017
Making waves in a photoactive polymer film
Anne Hélène Gelebart, Dirk J. Mulder, Michael Varga, Andrew Konya, Ghislaine Vantomme, E. W. Meijer, Robin L. B. Selinger, Dirk J. Broer
Citations: 1035 • 2017
An autonomously electrically self-healing liquid metal–elastomer composite for robust soft-matter robotics and electronics
Eric J. Markvicka, Michael D. Bartlett, Xiaonan Huang, Carmel Majidi
Citations: 1033 • 2018
Soft Robotics: Review of Fluid‐Driven Intrinsically Soft Devices; Manufacturing, Sensing, Control, and Applications in Human‐Robot Interaction
Panagiotis Polygerinos, Nikolaus Correll, Stephen A. Morin, Bobak Mosadegh, Çağdaş D. Önal, Kirstin Petersen, Matteo Cianchetti, Michael T. Tolley, Robert F. Shepherd
Citations: 1021 • 2017
Theory of dielectric elastomers
Zhigang Suo
Citations: 1017 • 2010
Ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs) as biomimetic sensors, actuators and artificial muscles - a review
Mohsen Shahinpoor, Yoseph Bar‐Cohen, J. Simpson, Joseph G. Smith
Citations: 1015 • 1998