---
OA_place: repository
_id: '20286'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: "Natural organisms utilize distributed actuation through their musculoskeletal\r\nsystems
to adapt their gait for traversing diverse terrains or to morph their\r\nbodies
for varied tasks. A longstanding challenge in robotics is to emulate\r\nthis capability
of natural organisms, which has motivated the development of\r\nnumerous soft
robotic systems. However, such systems are generally optimized\r\nfor a single
functionality, lack the ability to change form or function on\r\ndemand, or remain
tethered to bulky control systems. To address these\r\nlimitations, we present
a framework for designing and controlling robots that\r\nutilize distributed actuation.
We propose a novel building block that\r\nintegrates 3D-printed bones with liquid
crystal elastomer (LCE) muscles as\r\nlightweight actuators, enabling the modular
assembly of musculoskeletal robots.\r\nWe developed LCE rods that contract in
response to infrared radiation, thereby\r\nproviding localized, untethered control
over the distributed skeletal network\r\nand producing global deformations of
the robot. To fully capitalize on the\r\nextensive design space, we introduce
two computational tools: one for\r\noptimizing the robot's skeletal graph to achieve
multiple target deformations,\r\nand another for co-optimizing skeletal designs
and control gaits to realize\r\ndesired locomotion. We validate our framework
by constructing several robots\r\nthat demonstrate complex shape morphing, diverse
control schemes, and\r\nenvironmental adaptability. Our system integrates advances
in modular material\r\nbuilding, untethered and distributed control, and computational
design to\r\nintroduce a new generation of robots that brings us closer to the
capabilities\r\nof living organisms."
acknowledgement: "The authors express gratitude to Magali Lorion for assisting in
the initial fabrication of LCEs,\r\nPengbin Tang for providing the code for simulating
discrete elastic rods, the Imaging and\r\nOptics Facility at ISTA for assisting
with the spectrometry measurements, and the MIBA\r\nmachine shop at ISTA for their
support in manufacturing various devices.\r\nFunding: This project was supported
by the European Research Council (ERC) under\r\nthe European Union’s Horizon 2020
research and innovation program (Grant Agreement No.\r\n715767 -– MATERIALIZABLE)."
article_processing_charge: No
arxiv: 1
author:
- first_name: Manas
full_name: Bhargava, Manas
id: FF8FA64C-AA6A-11E9-99AD-50D4E5697425
last_name: Bhargava
orcid: 0009-0007-6138-6890
- first_name: Takefumi
full_name: Hiraki, Takefumi
last_name: Hiraki
- first_name: Irina-Malina
full_name: Strugaru, Irina-Malina
id: 2afc607f-f128-11eb-9611-8f2a0dfcf074
last_name: Strugaru
- first_name: Yuhan
full_name: Zhang, Yuhan
last_name: Zhang
- first_name: Michael
full_name: Piovarci, Michael
id: 62E473F4-5C99-11EA-A40E-AF823DDC885E
last_name: Piovarci
orcid: 0000-0002-5062-4474
- first_name: Chiara
full_name: Daraio, Chiara
last_name: Daraio
- first_name: Daisuke
full_name: Iwai, Daisuke
last_name: Iwai
- first_name: Bernd
full_name: Bickel, Bernd
id: 49876194-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Bickel
orcid: 0000-0001-6511-9385
citation:
ama: Bhargava M, Hiraki T, Strugaru I-M, et al. Computational design and fabrication
of modular robots with untethered control. arXiv. doi:10.48550/arXiv.2508.05410
apa: Bhargava, M., Hiraki, T., Strugaru, I.-M., Zhang, Y., Piovarci, M., Daraio,
C., … Bickel, B. (n.d.). Computational design and fabrication of modular robots
with untethered control. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2508.05410
chicago: Bhargava, Manas, Takefumi Hiraki, Irina-Malina Strugaru, Yuhan Zhang, Michael
Piovarci, Chiara Daraio, Daisuke Iwai, and Bernd Bickel. “Computational Design
and Fabrication of Modular Robots with Untethered Control.” ArXiv, n.d.
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2508.05410.
ieee: M. Bhargava et al., “Computational design and fabrication of modular
robots with untethered control,” arXiv. .
ista: Bhargava M, Hiraki T, Strugaru I-M, Zhang Y, Piovarci M, Daraio C, Iwai D,
Bickel B. Computational design and fabrication of modular robots with untethered
control. arXiv, 10.48550/arXiv.2508.05410.
mla: Bhargava, Manas, et al. “Computational Design and Fabrication of Modular Robots
with Untethered Control.” ArXiv, doi:10.48550/arXiv.2508.05410.
short: M. Bhargava, T. Hiraki, I.-M. Strugaru, Y. Zhang, M. Piovarci, C. Daraio,
D. Iwai, B. Bickel, ArXiv (n.d.).
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2025-09-04T09:14:11Z
date_published: 2025-08-31T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-07-29T13:03:30Z
day: '31'
department:
- _id: BeBi
doi: 10.48550/arXiv.2508.05410
ec_funded: 1
external_id:
arxiv:
- '2508.05410'
fulldoi: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2508.05410
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
url: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2508.05410
month: '08'
oa: 1
oa_version: Preprint
project:
- _id: 24F9549A-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
call_identifier: H2020
grant_number: '715767'
name: 'MATERIALIZABLE: Intelligent fabrication-oriented Computational Design and
Modeling'
publication: arXiv
publication_status: draft
related_material:
record:
- id: '20276'
relation: dissertation_contains
status: public
status: public
title: Computational design and fabrication of modular robots with untethered control
tmp:
image: /images/cc_by.png
legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
short: CC BY (4.0)
type: preprint
user_id: 8b945eb4-e2f2-11eb-945a-df72226e66a9
year: '2025'
...