Issue 33, 2024

The new material science towards sustainable robotics

Abstract

Sustainable robotics is an emerging field of research that aims to develop robotic automation solutions to address the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The material-centric approach to sustainable robotics focuses on designing robots with novel sustainable materials starting from natural or recycled raw materials, demonstrating self-healing reusability, and eventually recycled, upcycled, or biodegraded with minimal environmental impact. The ultimate goal is to realize a physical robotic embodiment with a circular life-cycle. This perspective highlights recent advances in material science, ranging from self-healing materials to biodegradable and recyclable materials, which serve as the foundation for this emerging class of robots. We then showcase examples of functional material integration in sustainable robotic components and discuss challenges and opportunities towards an entirely sustainable robotic system.

Graphical abstract: The new material science towards sustainable robotics

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Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
07 May 2024
Accepted
12 Jul 2024
First published
12 Jul 2024
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2024,12, 12721-12733

The new material science towards sustainable robotics

W. Miao and H. Bai, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2024, 12, 12721 DOI: 10.1039/D4TC01868K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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