Functionalization of Situated Robots via Vapour
This work addresses the integration challenge of functionalizing in situ built robot bodies, offering a method that reduces payload and leverages environmental resources, though it is a proof-of-concept with limited immediate impact.
The authors propose using environmental materials to functionalize in situ spun robot structures, reducing payload and improving environmental matching. They demonstrate this by transforming a PVDF fiber web into a polypyrrole-grafted structure via pyrrole vapour, achieving optical absorption.
Tight matching with the environment is key to effective robot operation in complex settings. Situated robots that build their bodies in situ (e.g. by spinning) are uniquely positioned to exploit their surroundings, yet functionalization of these structures remains an integration challenge - multimaterial spinning requires complex spinneret multiplexing, and mixture doping is limited by additive availability and chemical stability. We propose instead using materials available in the environment to functionalize in situ spun webs, reducing payload and uniquely matching the structure to its surroundings. As a demonstration, we transform an optically scattering PVDF fiber web into an optically absorbing, polypyrrole-grafted structure via pyrrole vapour exposure. Two activator-delivery strategies are shown: liquid infusion into a prefabricated web, and activator pre-embedding in the spinning mixture. Beyond this proof-of-concept, we foresee broader applications including biohybrid robots that exploit bacterial genomes for specific biomolecule synthesis in situ.