Eric Markvicka and students presented self-healing muscle at IEEE conference. University of Nebraska–Lincoln
If you’re anything like me, you’ve grown up on a big dose of sci-fi films like Terminator 2, where T-1000 could self-heal from any wounds, including bullet shots and blade slashes.
While not as dramatic as that film, engineers from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln have developed a promising new soft robotics system that can detect and repair its own damage.
This autonomous, self-healing artificial muscle mimics how human and plant skin react to injury.
The work, led by Husker engineer Eric Markvicka and graduate students Ethan Krings and Patrick McManigal, could reshape how electronics and machines handle damage.
Mimicking biology through soft robotics
Markvicka’s team focused on a longstanding gap in biomimicry: the ability to sense and heal damage like living organisms do.
“In our community, there is a huge push toward replicating traditional rigid systems using soft materials, and a huge movement toward biomimicry,” Markvicka said.
“While we’ve been able to create stretchable electronics and actuators that are soft and conformal, they often don’t mimic biology in their ability to respond to damage and then initiate self-repair.”
To solve this, the team designed a three-layer artificial muscle. The bottom layer is a soft electronic skin made of silicone embedded with liquid metal microdroplets, which detects and locates damage.
The middle layer consists of a stiff thermoplastic elastomer that enables self-healing.
On top, the actuation layer moves the muscle when it’s pressurized with water.
Smart repair with built-in heating
The artificial muscle can detect where damage occurs, then kickstart a healing process without help from humans.
It works by running five monitoring currents through the electronic skin. When damaged, this skin creates a new electrical path. The system recognizes this path and increases current through it, turning the damaged area into a Joule heater.
The resulting heat melts and reseals the middle layer, closing the puncture.
Later, the system must be reset by removing the damage footprint from the bottom layer.
Multilayer architecture of self-healing artificial skin – University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Flipping a flaw into a feature
To reset the system, the team used electromigration, which is usually a problem in electronics.
Electromigration shifts metal atoms when current flows through them, often leading to failure in circuits.
Markvicka’s team harnessed this failure mode to intentionally erase the damage path, making the system reusable.
“Electromigration is generally seen as a huge negative,” Markvicka said.
“It’s one of the bottlenecks that has prevented the miniaturization of electronics. We use it in a unique and really positive way here. Instead of trying to prevent it from happening, we are, for the first time, harnessing it to erase traces that we used to think were permanent.”
Future impact in farming, wearables, and waste
The implications of this self-repairing tech stretch far beyond the lab.
In agriculture-heavy states like Nebraska, robots often get damaged by thorns, twigs, or plastic. Self-healing systems could extend their lifespans. Wearable medical devices could also benefit, surviving the rigors of daily use.
More broadly, reducing electronic waste could help protect environmental and human health.
“If we can begin to create materials that are able to passably and autonomously detect when damage has happened, and then initiate these self-repair mechanisms, it would really be transformative,” Markvicka said.
Their findings were recently presented at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Atlanta, Georgia.
It earned recognition as one of only 39 Best Paper Award finalists out of 1,606 submissions.
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