Replacing conventional pistons with compressible structures inside a membrane made of soft materials
300- year-old piston design reinvented with soft flexible materials can produce greater forces with higher energy efficiencies, and has potential for a plethora of applications Since their i... Read more
U.S. Army-funded researchers at Brandeis University have discovered a process for engineering next-generation soft materials with embedded chemical networks that mimic the behavior of neural... Read more
Technique paves the way for more complex soft devices Every complex human tool, from the first spear to latest smartphone, has contained multiple materials wedged, tied, screwed, glued or so... Read more
Sleeve attaches directly around the heart Harvard University and Boston Children’s Hospital researchers have developed a customizable soft robot that fits around a heart and helps it beat, p... Read more
Powered by a chemical reaction controlled by microfluidics, 3D-printed ‘octobot’ has no electronics A team of Harvard University researchers with expertise in 3D printing, mechanical enginee... Read more
Researchers at the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw, using the liquid crystal elastomer technology, originally developed in the LENS Institute in Florence, demonstrated a bioin... Read more
Soft materials are great at damping energy — that’s why rubber tires are so good at absorbing the shock of bumps and potholes. But if researchers are going to build autonomous soft systems,... Read more
New mechanical ‘metamaterial’ developed at Tel Aviv University may revolutionize prosthetics and wearable technologies Ill-fitting joint sockets, contact dermatitis and sebaceous... Read more
Soft actuator could be ‘holy grail’ for soft robotics Soft robots do a lot of things well but they’re not exactly known for their speed. The artificial muscles that move soft robots, called... Read more
Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a technique for using chains of magnetic nanoparticles to manipulate elastic polymers in three dimensions, which could be used... Read more
Hasta la vista, baby. A real-life T-1000, the shape-shifting liquid-metal robot from Terminator 2, is a step closer, thanks to a self-powered liquid metal motor. The device is surprisingly s... Read more
Researchers have developed a technique that might be used to produce “soft machines” made of elastic materials and liquid metals for potential applications in robotics, medical d... Read more
“The big vision is soft machines” Gel-based audio speaker demonstrates capabilities of ionic conductors, long thought limited in application. In a materials science laboratory at Harvard Uni... Read more
