ArticleNature materials2024
Fracture-driven power amplification in a hydrogel launcher.
Article in Nature materials, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Dynamic coupling enables impulsive ejection in a hydrogel catapult.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Musculoskeletal actuators with programmable morphology and tunable dynamics.Science advances · 2026Article
- Breaking the Toughness-Stretchability Trade-Off in Hydrogels with Dynamic Hydrogen Bonding.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Tough asymmetric thermochromic ionogels via dynamic in situ phase separation for dual-modal smart optical switching.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Moiré superlattice-driven bionic hydrogel robot with programmable multifunctionality.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Elasto-magnetic instabilities for amplified actuation and mechanical memory.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Programmable Hydrogels: Frontiers in Dynamic Closed-Loop Systems, Biomimetic Synergy, and Clinical Translation.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Review
- Bio-Inspired Stored Magnetic Energy Actuator with Transient Triggering and Programmable Logic.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025Article
- Programmable seconds-to-days-long delayed snapping in jumping metashells.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Beyond surface tension-dominated water surface jumping.Nature communications · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Robotic tasks that require robust propulsion abilities such as jumping, ejecting or catapulting require power-amplification strategies where kinetic energy is generated from pre-stored energy. Here we report an engineered accumulated strain energy-fracture power-amplification method that is inspired by the pressurized fluidic squirting mechanism of Ecballium elaterium (squirting cucumber plants). We realize a light-driven hydrogel launcher that harnesses fast liquid vapourization triggered by the photothermal response of an embedded graphene suspension. This vapourization leads to appreciable elastic energy storage within the surrounding hydrogel network, followed by rapid elastic energy release within 0.3 ms. These soft hydrogel robots achieve controlled launching at high velocity with a predictable trajectory. The accumulated strain energy-fracture method was used to create an artificial squirting cucumber that disperses artificial seeds over metres, which can further achieve smart seeding through an integrated radio-frequency identification chip. This power-amplification strategy provides a basis for propulsive motion to advance the capabilities of miniaturized soft robotic systems.
Identifiers
39043929What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.