Bioinspired Adhesives

The ability to delicately attach to variable surfaces could lead to improved performance of robotic systems, with specific emphasis on manipulation and locomotion. Looking at the adhesion strategies of intertidal fish, I designed biomimetic adhesives to grab onto many different types of underwater (i.e., biological or archaeological samples) and wetted (i.e., organ tissue) objects.

Patent:

•  Tolley MT, Sandoval J, Deheyn D (2023). "Suction discs for adhesion to rough, delicate, and wet surfaces", U.S. Patent No. 11,674,545. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

  
  

Publications:

• Sandoval JA, Jadhav S, Quan H, Deheyn DD, Tolley MT (2019). "Reversible adhesion to rough surfaces both in and out of water, inspired by the clingfish suction disc", Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, 14, 066016.

• Sandoval JA, Sommers J, Peddireddy KR, Robertson-Anderson RM, Tolley MT, Deheyn DD (2020). "Toward bioinspired wet adhesives: lessons from assessing surface structures of the suction disc of intertidal clingfish", ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 12(40), 45460-45475.

• Sandoval JA, Ishida M, Jadhav S, Huen S, Tolley MT (2022). "Tuning the morphology of suction discs to enable directional adhesion for locomotion in wet environments", Soft Robotics, 9(6), 1083-1097.

• Ishida M, Sandoval JA, Lee S, Huen S, Tolley MT (2022). "Locomotion via Active Suction in a Sea Star-Inspired Soft Robot", IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 7(4), 10304-10311.