| Abstract | There is a great deal of interest in creating new structural concepts, such as snake robots, from analogousbiological systems. These biological systems are typically composed of materials that serve multiple functions.
For example, the skin of a snake is a system consisting of a soft, hyperelastic covering, with nerves providing
thermal and pressure sensitivity, and a hard, scaly coating to resist wear and tear from hard particles such as
sand. Therefore, bio-inspired structures can also be composed of multifunctional materials. There are currently
many approaches to fabricating bio-inspired structures with conventional materials. These concepts typically
utilize a system-of-systems design approach where the structure will be composed of a structural framework, an
actuation system, a power source for the actuation system, controllers, and external sensors. The drawbacks to
these structures include the need to assemble all of the components, interfaces between components that can
compromise reliability, constraints on scaling down the structure, and very high power consumption and power
generation requirements. These problems have been addressed by developing a new scalable approach to
creating multifunctional materials for bio-inspired structures where the controllers, actuators, and sensors are
integrated into a modular, multifunctional structure. This approach is facilitated by using multi-material multi-stage
molding processes with fully embedded electronic systems, and has resulted in new Thermal and Impact
Protected (TIPed) Embedded Sensing Controls Actuation Power Element (ESCAPE) Structures for compact and
rugged robotic applications.
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