Photoresponsive liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) constitute ideal actuators for soft robots because their light-induced macroscopic shape changes can be harnessed to perform specific articulated motions. Conventional LCEs, however, do not typically exhibit complex modes of bending and twisting necessary to perform sophisticated maneuvers. Here, we model LCE microposts encompassing side-chain mesogens oriented along a magnetically programmed nematic director, and azobenzene cross-linkers, which determine the deformations of illuminated posts. On altering the nematic director orientation from vertical to horizontal, the post’s bending respectively changes from light-seeking to light-avoiding. Moreover, both modeling and subsequent experiments show that with the director tilted at 45°, the initially achiral post reversibly twists into a right- or left-handed chiral structure, controlled by the angle of incident light. We exploit this photoinduced chirality to design “chimera” posts (encompassing two regions with distinct director orientations) that exhibit simultaneous bending and twisting, mimicking motions exhibited by the human musculoskeletal system.

光响应性液晶弹性体（LCE）构成了软机器人的理想致动器，因为可以利用其光感应的宏观形状变化来执行特定的铰接运动。然而，常规的LCE通常不表现出执行复杂操纵所需的复杂的弯曲和扭曲模式。在这里，我们对LCE微柱建模，该LCE微柱包含沿磁编程向列导向器定向的侧链介晶和偶氮苯交联剂，它们确定了照明柱的变形。在将向列导向器的方向从垂直更改为水平时，柱子的弯曲分别从寻求光变为避免光。此外，建模和后续实验均表明，在指向矢倾斜45°的情况下，最初的非手性柱可逆地扭曲为右手或左手手性结构，受入射光的角度控制。我们利用这种光诱导的手性来设计“嵌合体”柱（包含两个具有不同指向矢方向的区域），这些柱子表现出同时弯曲和扭曲，模仿人类肌肉骨骼系统表现出的运动。