Decentralized mechanical metawheelbot enabled by adaptive dynamic adhesion

Decentralized mechanical metawheelbot enabled by adaptive dynamic adhesion | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Decentralized mechanical metawheelbot enabled by adaptive dynamic adhesion Yu Sun, Haofeng Liang, Chenjie Wang, Yafei Zhang, Laihao Yang, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9497546/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The invention of wheels has propelled human civilization and inspired modern agile robotic systems, yet the traditional wheel lacks intrinsic feedback for spontaneous environmental adaptation, restricting performance in extreme settings. While physical adhesion naturally mediates such system-environment interactions, conventional paradigms tend to treat bonding and detachment as binary states, overlooking the elaborate balance that generates embodied functionality. Here, we report a decentralized metawheel that functions as an embodied controller by integrating dynamic adhesion directly into its architected soft motifs. Relying solely on structural-interfacial interactions, this design enables counterintuitive inverted rolling and direction-gated locomotion. We elucidate these behaviors through an energetic landscape perspective, revealing the coupled mechanisms of self-holding and dynamic diode adhesion. Manifested in robotic systems, metawheels achieve geometrically adaptive wall-climbing with detachment controlled simply by the rolling direction, and enable metawheelbots to perform automatic path-navigation without a central controller. The underlying reflexive adhesion dynamics revealed herein provide tools for intelligent motion, logic and functional matter in unstructured environments. Physical sciences/Engineering Physical sciences/Engineering/Mechanical engineering Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files supportmaterials.pdf Supplementary Information for: Decentralized mechanical metawheelbot enabled by adaptive dynamic adhesion DATA.S1.xlsx Data S1 movie1positivemodebehavior.mp4 Metawheel achieves robust adhesive rolling in positive mode MOVIE2.mp4 Dynamic diode adhesion drives the metawheel to perform asymmetric motion movie3wallclimbing.mp4 Driving the metawheel to achieve wall-climbing motion movie4doublewheel.mp4 Locomotion of dual-metawheel systems Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9497546","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":637862734,"identity":"d543c0e3-abd9-43be-98bb-08f57a349665","order_by":0,"name":"Yu Sun","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAwUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYPACGwbGBhDNRryWNAbGNhK1HIaqJkaLwY0E5s+8O84nNs/vMWD4UHaYgX92A0EtbNK8Z24bM7bxGDDOOHeYQeLOAcJamHnbbsuBtAAZhxkMJBKIcVjbOR6wlr9EamGQ5m07ALGFkRgtkmcetknObUsG+iWt4GDPuXQeiRsEtPAdTz784W2bXeLG5sMbH/wos5bjn0FAi8IBSLQzGAKpA0CaB796IJBvgDEIKh0Fo2AUjIIRCwAo6T9PPkbGQAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8646-277X","institution":"Xi'an Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yu","middleName":"","lastName":"Sun","suffix":""},{"id":637862735,"identity":"9584714f-a952-4856-bdcf-ed244bcf69d5","order_by":1,"name":"Haofeng Liang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Xi'an Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Haofeng","middleName":"","lastName":"Liang","suffix":""},{"id":637862736,"identity":"7dcc6162-4664-4f08-befd-8e23906a8c09","order_by":2,"name":"Chenjie Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Xi'an Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Chenjie","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":637862737,"identity":"e2b08094-df6e-4a60-b3e2-6a7b9f1b9488","order_by":3,"name":"Yafei Zhang","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1057-2400","institution":"The Racah Institute, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yafei","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":637862738,"identity":"258660b8-1000-422b-987f-fc4b6bf5d99c","order_by":4,"name":"Laihao Yang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Xi'an Jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Laihao","middleName":"","lastName":"Yang","suffix":""},{"id":637862739,"identity":"43d510c1-2b59-4e76-8071-d8bcec67ce10","order_by":5,"name":"Xuefeng Chen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Xi'an jiaotong University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xuefeng","middleName":"","lastName":"Chen","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-04-22 14:15:16","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9497546/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9497546/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":109098752,"identity":"471fd680-76eb-4a6f-a444-16f42af9d71d","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-12 14:14:54","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":4585400,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article","description":"","filename":"Updatedmanuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9497546/v1_covered_54b3faa9-27c6-4e09-bdb5-6a23003f0894.pdf"},{"id":109097244,"identity":"925aa0ff-9cd7-44ee-8244-2197cfbcf56c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-12 14:07:50","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":30051320,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Information for: Decentralized mechanical metawheelbot enabled by adaptive dynamic adhesion","description":"","filename":"supportmaterials.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9497546/v1/1eb13c4261388bf0e6e19607.pdf"},{"id":109097227,"identity":"728ed3d9-9fe3-475b-ba99-8dc20d083863","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-12 14:07:39","extension":"xlsx","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":26807,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Data S1","description":"","filename":"DATA.S1.xlsx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9497546/v1/2716db98aed306a765e2dcd5.xlsx"},{"id":109096943,"identity":"e9c7db4d-9844-4baa-afa5-a152de54ba30","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-12 14:06:25","extension":"mp4","order_by":3,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":30346082,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Metawheel achieves robust adhesive rolling in positive mode","description":"","filename":"movie1positivemodebehavior.mp4","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9497546/v1/094697fe0c30a85bb5094e2b.mp4"},{"id":109097148,"identity":"2e8334f3-312a-4c3a-be94-82057f4f9e08","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-12 14:07:14","extension":"mp4","order_by":4,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":22841940,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Dynamic diode adhesion drives the metawheel to perform asymmetric motion","description":"","filename":"MOVIE2.mp4","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9497546/v1/2c3fc47215ad302815c50a73.mp4"},{"id":109097152,"identity":"216dd9a2-c2a5-40b3-9115-e1439cbf07e9","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-12 14:07:15","extension":"mp4","order_by":5,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":31267045,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Driving the metawheel to achieve wall-climbing motion","description":"","filename":"movie3wallclimbing.mp4","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9497546/v1/5ce53ad3b8fd555ad124dddb.mp4"},{"id":109096936,"identity":"d8efe3f8-93ff-4e75-b122-77b2a26f6374","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-12 14:06:24","extension":"mp4","order_by":6,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":36808681,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Locomotion of dual-metawheel systems","description":"","filename":"movie4doublewheel.mp4","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9497546/v1/7bf469da2473c64550e74f7c.mp4"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Decentralized mechanical metawheelbot enabled by adaptive dynamic adhesion","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9497546/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9497546/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"The invention of wheels has propelled human civilization and inspired modern agile robotic systems, yet the traditional wheel lacks intrinsic feedback for spontaneous environmental adaptation, restricting performance in extreme settings. While physical adhesion naturally mediates such system-environment interactions, conventional paradigms tend to treat bonding and detachment as binary states, overlooking the elaborate balance that generates embodied functionality. Here, we report a decentralized metawheel that functions as an embodied controller by integrating dynamic adhesion directly into its architected soft motifs. Relying solely on structural-interfacial interactions, this design enables counterintuitive inverted rolling and direction-gated locomotion. We elucidate these behaviors through an energetic landscape perspective, revealing the coupled mechanisms of self-holding and dynamic diode adhesion. Manifested in robotic systems, metawheels achieve geometrically adaptive wall-climbing with detachment controlled simply by the rolling direction, and enable metawheelbots to perform automatic path-navigation without a central controller. The underlying reflexive adhesion dynamics revealed herein provide tools for intelligent motion, logic and functional matter in unstructured environments.","manuscriptTitle":"Decentralized mechanical metawheelbot enabled by adaptive dynamic adhesion","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-05-12 13:55:35","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9497546/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-communications","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"NCOMMS","sideBox":"Learn more about [Nature Communications](http://www.nature.com/ncomms/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://mts-ncomms.nature.com/","title":"Nature Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature Communications","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"abaa13d0-64d0-44da-af2f-5cd0e81531ed","owner":[],"postedDate":"May 12th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"This content is not available.","date":"2026-05-12T12:28:05+00:00","index":1,"fulltext":"This content is not available."},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"5","date":"2026-05-11T03:27:42+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":67886064,"name":"Physical sciences/Engineering"},{"id":67886065,"name":"Physical sciences/Engineering/Mechanical engineering"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-12T13:55:35+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-05-12 13:55:35","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9497546","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9497546","identity":"rs-9497546","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}