Korean scientists engineer stretchable battery capable of moving like snake scales

South Korean scientists have developed a flexible battery that bends and stretches like a snake, an innovation that could find application in advanced wearable devices and soft robots used in disaster management. Engineers from the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) said the battery's structure draws inspiration from snake scales, which while rigid, can fold together to protect against external impact, and also possess traits that allow them to be highly stretchable and move flexibly. The stretchable device, described in the journal Soft Robotics, enables flexible movement by connecting several small, hard batteries in a scale-like structure. It consists of small, hexagonal battery cells resembling a snake scale which are connected together using a hinge mechanism made of a polymer and copper material to fold and unfold. "This study proposes a novel structure with individual, overlapping units, similar to snake scales that can be used to construct shape-morphing batteries for untethered soft robots," the scientists wrote in the study.