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You'll never walk alone? A gel actuator that can generate autonomous motility with a wormlike motion without external driving stimuli is produced. The autonomous motion is produced by dissipating the chemical energy of an oscillating reaction occurring inside the gel. Even though the gel is completely composed of synthetic polymer, it shows an autonomous motion as if it were “alive”. By coupling this with a ratchet mechanism, the gel walks by repeatedly bending and stretching itself like a looper (see figure). Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW under http: //www. wiley-vch. de/contents/jc₂089/2007/c0625ₛ. html or from the author. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
Maeda et al. (2007) studied this question.