Photothermal MXene@RGO Grippers on Magnetic Soft Fiber Robots for Decoupled Navigation and Manipulation

Magnetic soft fiber robots have demonstrated significant potential in minimally invasive medicine due to their superior navigability in confined lumens. However, integrating functional end-effectors into these systems often leads to control coupling, where the actuation of distal modules inadvertently interferes with the robot's navigation posture. Herein, we propose a decoupled actuation strategy by integrating a photothermal MXene/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) gripper onto a magnetically steerable fiber robot. The distal gripper features a bilayer architecture, comprising a functional MXene@RGO/elastomer composite layer and a passive substrate layer. Leveraging the high photothermal conversion efficiency of MXene nanosheets, the gripper generates significant bending deformation driven by the thermal expansion mismatch under near-infrared (NIR) irradiation. This optical actuation mechanism is physically independent of the magnetic steering system, effectively eliminating signal crosstalk. We demonstrate that the fiber robot can perform precise magnetic navigation through complex tortuous paths and execute on-demand optical grasping of small objects without compromising its structural flexibility. This work presents a robust material interface-based solution for enabling multimodal control in soft robotics, expanding their capabilities for precise remote operations in restricted environments.