Movie 'Transformers' Becomes Reality... Development of Snake-Like Flexible Battery

Dr. Jang Bong-gyun's Research Team at Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials Utilizes Development of Highly Stretchable and Deformable 'Soft Robots'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials announced on the 28th that it has developed a flexible stretchable battery that bends smoothly like a snake. It is expected to be applied to various types of devices ranging from soft robots to wearable devices, serving various purposes such as energy storage components and disaster environments.

The research team, led by Senior Researcher Jang Bong-gyun and Principal Researcher Hyun Seung-min of the Nano-Mechanical Equipment Research Laboratory at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, developed a stretchable battery structure with safety and flexibility inspired by the scale structure of snakes, and published these research results online on the 16th of last month in the international journal on soft robotics, Soft Robotics.

The team created a mechanical structure mimicking the scale structure of snakes to develop a battery that easily stretches in the desired direction while ensuring high safety and performance. Unlike existing wearable devices where the product body and battery are firmly bonded, this battery features multiple small, rigid batteries connected in a scale-like structure, allowing flexible movement.

At the same time, to ensure safety, a structure minimizing deformation of the internal battery cell materials was applied, and the shape of individual batteries was optimized to achieve high charging capacity in small-sized batteries.

The core of this achievement lies in designing the shapes of the battery cells and their connectors. Small hexagonal battery cells, resembling a single snake scale, were fabricated using lithium polymer, and these were connected with polymer and copper hinges that fold and unfold like a hinge. Additionally, inspired by origami, the manufacturing process allows flexible electrodes to be cut and folded, enabling economical mass production.

By utilizing this, it can be used as an energy storage component for wearable soft robots requiring soft and flexible energy storage, or for rehabilitation medical devices that assist elderly people with mobility difficulties. Furthermore, leveraging its stretchable and deformable characteristics that allow free movement in narrow spaces with obstacles, it is expected to be used as a power supply device for disaster robots that aid in rescue operations in disaster-stricken areas.

The research team plans to develop technologies to increase the storage capacity of soft energy storage devices and aims to develop highly utilizable soft robots by combining them with artificial muscle and soft robot driving technologies.

Senior Researcher Jang said, “We developed a battery with flexibility and stretchability inspired by the structure of snake scales while ensuring safety,” adding, “We will devote ourselves to follow-up research and development so that it can be used in rehabilitation medical care and disaster rescue to help the health and safety of the public.”