全球软体机器人材料技术的增长机会

世界各地的机器人公司继续建立伙伴关係和协作，以设计新的软体机器人部件。 併购，尤其是特殊目的收购 (SPAC)，正在推动创新软材料解决方案的发展。 人口老龄化、对更好的自动化解决方案的需求、增材製造日益增长的影响以及新的应用机会等因素正在推动软体机器人材料技术的发展。

本报告探索并分析了可用于机器人技术的新兴和未来软体机器人材料，包括各种技术方面、最终用途、技术趋势和机遇，以及行业利益相关者生态系统的动态。 我们还探索顶级材料并提供比较基准，其中包括使这些材料具有优越性的因素。

内容

战略要务

• 战略要务 8 (TM)
• 为什么越来越难成长？
• 材料行业三大战略要务对软体机器人的影响
• 增长机会推动增长 Pipeline Engine(TM)
• 调查方法

增长机会分析

• 技术仪表板
• 调查范围和细分
• 调查范围和细分、调查目的
• 司机
• 约束因素

行业概况

• 工业 4.0 推动了以机器人为中心的自动化的发展步伐
• 软体机器人的进步取决于适用于 AM 的材料的进步
• 更多地使用具有高机械强度的柔性可调材料来製造机器人
• 某些工业要求为构建软体机器人提出了先进的材料要求
• 法规旨在将机器智能融入软执行器以实现高性能
• 软体机器人和材料开发的里程碑
• 研究机构和材料供应商在软体机器人部件的设计决策中发挥着关键作用
• 学术界和供应商合作探索用于机器人技术的创新软材料

技术分析

• 聚合物赋予它们独特的属性，从而形成软体机器人中的高级材料用途
• 弹性体可提高机器人部件的柔韧性和可拉伸性，并展现弹性
• 在金属和合金中，软体机器人製造商对 SMA 很感兴趣，因为它具有独特的性能
• 受自然启发的组织和微生物用于製造更好的机器
• 纳米结构为软机器人微型机器提供动力，使其具有更好的运动能力来执行自动化任务
• 製造类型决定了所用材料的类型
• 多种製造和製造方式确保智能软体机器人具有整体应用
• 聚合物和弹性体材料引领着各行各业机器人驱动的软材料潮流

创新生态系统

• 用于软体机器人的聚合物和弹性体的研发活动
• 用于软体机器人的合金和纳米结构的研发活动
• 用于软体机器人的生物杂交体和人造组织的研发活动
• 聚合物和弹性体的商业化创新
• 合金和纳米结构的商业化创新
• 机器人公司继续建立伙伴关係和协作，以设计新的软体机器人组件
• 通过合併和收购获得技术

知识产权分析

• 聚合物和弹性体在软体机器人材料研究论文中占据主导地位
• 合金和纳米结构引领软体机器人材料的专利申请
• 美国专利商标局和中国专利局在过去三年中引领知识产权申请
• 软致动器继续成为专利申请的重点

融资与投资分析

• 投资者大量押注软体机器人材料，例如介电弹性体，以增强高速运动能力
• 北美和亚太地区的资助计划分别侧重于软机器人组件开发和新材料
• 受益人将优先建造满足机器人操作要求的软材料
• 软机器人资金增加，探索更灵活的可编程材料
• Soft Robotics Materials VC and Grants Initiative 旨在展示机器人中的软材料并将其商业化

未来展望

• 获得合适的软材料的关键是降低成本和提高材料性能
• 创新的动力和竞争的存在是为软体机器人提供有用材料的主要决策者
• 根据需要增加对未来概念的调查
• 推动和抓紧领导专利和资助计划
• 分析师观点

增长机会领域

• 增长机会 1：用于诊断和治疗的可摄取软体机器人
• 增长机会 2：可切换、可编程和可重新配置的机器人技术具有多功能性
• 增长机会 3：融合自然与工业自动化的仿生和仿生材料
• 增长机会 4：用于软体机器人製造的数字技术

附录

下一步

Smart Materials Gain Prominence in Manufacturing Soft Robotic Components and Parts

To promote safe interactions between humans and robots, the discipline of soft robotics incorporates low modulus yet highly dexterous materials into robotic systems. Easily deformable materials like polymers, elastomers, alloys, biohybrids, and nanostructures in the form of fluids, gels, soft electronics, and wearables (with elastic and rheological qualities similar to biological tissue and organs) make up most soft robots. The new class of elastically flexible, adaptable, and biologically inspired materials for robots has the potential to transform their use in manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and a range of human support functions.

Industrial robots are fast and precise systems based on rigid-body mechanisms, which ensure high throughput in the production of manufactured goods. However, the emergence of Industry 4.0, need for better technical capabilities, rising workforce costs, and lack of sufficient talent have propelled end users to adopt robotics made of soft materials with new, bio-inspired features that permit morphologically adaptive interactions in unpredictable environments.

As these soft materials evolve, they will be integrated into various industry applications to conduct complex tasks via highly efficient actuators, grippers, modules, and sensors. Soft materials could also solve various robotics design challenges, especially to achieve a balance of precision, force exertion, degrees of freedom, and structural compliance. One of the biggest issues in robotics is creating simple and secure interfaces between robotic devices and humans. Improving complexity and versatility in useful soft materials to mimic human muscles and tissues for adaptability and integration is pivotal.

This This Frost & Sullivan study explores emerging and futuristic soft robotics materials that can be incorporated into robotics. The research captures various technical aspects, end applications, technology trends and opportunities, and dynamics in the industry stakeholder ecosystem. It also explores the top materials and offers comparative benchmarking, including factors that render the superiority of these materials. The report delivers a deep dive into the intellectual property and financing backdrop for soft robotics materials.

Frost & Sullivan has identified key categories of soft robotics materials, segmented as follows:

• Soft polymers (hydrogel, electroactive, ferroelectric, shape memory, self-healing, and other smart polymers)

• Elastomers (silicones, PEDOT:PSS, PDMS, liquid crystal elastomers, and bioelastomers)

• Alloys and metallic materials (shape memory alloys and liquid metals)

• Biohybrids (bacterial, protists, tissues, biopolymers, and biomimetics)

• Nanostructures (carbon nanotubes, graphene, buckyballs, and other nanocomposites)

Robotics firms continue to forge partnerships and collaborations to design new soft robotics components. Mergers and acquisitions, specifically special purpose acquisitions (SPACs), have sparked the development of innovative soft material solutions. Factors such as the expanding aging population, need for better automation solutions, the growing impact of additive manufacturing, and emerging application opportunities are accelerating the soft robotics materials technology landscape.

Key Questions This Study Explores:

• Which materials are top-notch candidates for use in soft robotics?

• How have the materials' developmental milestones emerged?

• What are the regional technology and market trends in soft robotics materials development?

• What is the state of the soft robotics materials value chain and who are the key decision-makers?

• What are the main manufacturing routes to obtain soft materials for robotics?

• What R&D and commercialization initiatives are underway to explore new soft materials and for which robotics parts or components?

• What are the IP and funding scenarios for soft robotics materials?

• What are the growth opportunities for technology developers in the soft robotics materials arena?

Table of Contents

Strategic Imperatives

• The Strategic Imperative 8™
• Why Is It Increasingly Difficult to Grow?The Strategic Imperative 8™: Factors Creating Pressure on Growth
• The Impact of the Top 3 Strategic Imperatives on Materials for the Soft Robotics Industry
• Growth Opportunities Fuel the Growth Pipeline Engine™
• Research Methodology

Growth Opportunity Analysis

• Technology Dashboard
• Research Scope and Segmentation
• Research Scope and Segmentation and Questions the Study Answers
• Growth Drivers
• Growth Restraints

Industry Overview

• Industry 4.0 Fuels the Developmental Pace of Automation Focused on Robotics
• Progress in Soft Robotics Would Depend on the Advancement of Materials Amenable to AM
• Increasing Use of Soft Tunable Materials with High Mechanical Strength to Fabricate Robots
• Increasing Use of Soft Tunable Materials with High Mechanical Strength to Fabricate Robots (continued)
• Specific Industrial Requirements Set Advanced Material Demand to Construct Soft Robotics
• Regulations Aim to Embed Machine Intelligence into Soft Actuators to Achieve High Performance
• Milestones in Soft Robotics and Materials Development
• Research Institutes and Material Providers Play a Main Role in Decision-making on the Design of Soft Robotics Parts
• Academia and Providers Collaborate to Explore Innovative Robotics Soft Materials

Technology Analysis

• Polymers Shape the Use of Advanced Materials in Soft Robotics by Imparting Unique Attributes
• Elastomers Enhance the Flexibility and Stretchability of Robotic Components to Showcase Resilience
• Among Metals and Alloys, Soft Robotic Manufacturers are Interested in SMAs Owing to Their Unique Characteristics
• Nature-inspired Tissues and Micro-organisms See Use to Make Better Machines
• Nanostructures Empower Soft Robotic Micromachines with Better Locomotion to Conduct Automated Tasks
• The Type of Manufacturing Determines the Type of Material to Use
• Various Manufacturing and Fabrication Methods Ensure Intelligent Soft Robots with Holistic Applications
• Polymeric and Elastomeric Materials Lead the Soft Materials Bandwagon for Robotic Actuation across Industries

Innovation Ecosystem

• R&D Activities in Polymers and Elastomers for Soft Robotics
• R&D Activities in Alloys and Nanostructures for Soft Robotics
• R&D Activities in Biohybrids and Artificial Tissues for Soft Robotics
• Commercialized Innovations in Polymers and Elastomers
• Commercialized Innovations in Alloys and Nanostructures
• Robotics Firms Continue to Forge Partnerships and Collaborations to Design New Soft Robotic Components
• Mergers and Acquisitions to Gain Technology Access

Intellectual Property Analysis

• Polymers and Elastomers Dominate in Research Publications on Soft Robotics Materials
• Alloys and Nanostructures Lead in Patent Filings for Soft Robotics Materials
• USPTO and Chinese Patent Offices Lead IP Filings in the Last 3 Years
• Soft Actuators Remain the Focus in Patent Filings

Funding and Investment Analysis

• Investors Bet Big on Soft Robotics Materials, such as Dielectric Elastomers, to Reinforce Rapid Locomotion
• Funding Initiatives in North America and Asia-Pacific Focus on Soft Robotic Component Development and New Materials, Respectively
• Beneficiaries Prioritize Building Soft Materials that Conform to Robotics' Operational Requirements
• Soft Robotics Financing Increases to Explore Softer Programmable Materials
• VC and Grant Initiatives in Soft Robotics Materials Aim to Demonstrate and Commercialize Soft Materials in Robotics
• VC and Grant Initiatives in Soft Robotics Materials Aim to Demonstrate and Commercialize Soft Materials in Robotics (continued)

Future Outlook

• Cost Reduction and Material Performance Enhancement, the Key to Achieving Right Soft Material
• Drive for Innovation and Presence of Competition Are Main Decision-Makers to Render a Material Useful in Soft Robotics
• Research for Futuristic Concepts Increases to Meet Needs
• Research for Futuristic Concepts Increases to Meet Needs (continued)
• Actuation and Gripping Lead Patenting and Financing Initiatives
• Actuation and Gripping Lead Patenting and Financing Initiatives (continued)
• Analyst Perspectives
• Analyst Perspectives (continued)

Growth Opportunity Universe

• Growth Opportunity 1: Ingestible Soft Robotics for Diagnostics and Treatments
• Growth Opportunity 1: Ingestible Soft Robotics for Diagnostics and Treatments (continued)
• Growth Opportunity 2: Switchable, Programmable, and Reconfigurable Robotics to Offer Versatility
• Growth Opportunity 2: Switchable, Programmable, and Reconfigurable Robotics to Offer Versatility (continued)
• Growth Opportunity 3: Biomimetic and Bioinspired Materials to Converge Nature with Industrial Automation
• Growth Opportunity 3: Biomimetic and Bioinspired Materials to Converge Nature with Industrial Automation (continued)
• Growth Opportunity 4: Digital Technologies for Soft Robotics Manufacturing
• Growth Opportunity 4: Digital Technologies for Soft Robotics Manufacturing (continued)

Appendix

• Technology Readiness Levels (TRL): Explanation

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