What is it about?
Soft robots and wearable devices need switches that can keep working while bending and stretching. In this study, we developed a tiny soft switch made from a liquid metal line sealed inside an elastic material. Pressing the device narrows the liquid metal pathway and turns the circuit off, while releasing the pressure allows the pathway to reconnect and the circuit to turn on again. Because the design is simple and highly adaptable, the same switch can be controlled in different ways, including touch, air pressure, magnets, light, and electrical heating. We then used it to demonstrate a soft gripper, a self-moving soft crawler, and wearable logic circuits.
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Why is it important?
Soft robots and wearable electronics are becoming more capable, but they still need control components that are as soft, stretchable, and adaptable as the systems themselves. Many existing soft switches are more complex to fabricate, less compact, or limited in how they can be triggered. Here, we show that a simple liquid metal structure can provide fast and reliable switching while also supporting multiple control modes and different soft-machine functions. This makes it a useful building block for more interactive, autonomous, and better integrated soft electronic systems.
Perspectives
This study grew from our interest in a simple question: can a soft switch do more than just turn a circuit on and off? By using the self-pinch and self-healing behavior of liquid metal, we found a way to build a switch that is small, stretchable, and responsive to different kinds of stimuli. What excites us most is that the same basic device can support very different functions, from gripping and crawling to wearable logic, without relying on rigid control hardware. We hope this work encourages more researchers to think of soft switches not only as components, but as enabling elements for the next generation of intelligent soft systems.
Gangsheng Chen
Southeast University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A stretchable liquid metal switch for interactive and autonomous soft machines, International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, October 2025, Tsinghua University Press,
DOI: 10.1088/2631-7990/ae05d6.
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