Crawling

Anatomy

Oceanography

Physics

Geology

Liquid crystal

Artificial intelligence

Nanotechnology

Materials science

Soft robotics

Jump

Computer science

Optoelectronics

Quantum mechanics

Medicine

Microfluidics

Robot

Underwater

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Significance Untethered dynamic shape programming and control of soft materials have significant applications in technologies such as soft robots, medical devices, organ-on-a-chip, and optical devices. Here, we present a solution to remotely actuate and move soft materials underwater in a fast, efficient, and controlled manner using photoresponsive liquid crystal gels (LCGs). LCG constructs with engineered molecular alignment show a low and sharp phase-transition temperature and experience considerable density reduction by light exposure, thereby allowing rapid and reversible shape changes. We demonstrate different modes of underwater locomotion, such as crawling, walking, jumping, and swimming, by localized and time-varying illumination of LCGs. The diverse locomotion modes of smart LCGs can provide a new toolbox for designing efficient light-fueled soft robots in fluid-immersed media.

Bioinspired underwater locomotion of light-driven liquid crystal gels