One of the impediments to developing miniaturized, “squishy” robots is the need for an internal power source that overcomes the power-to-weight ratio for efficient movement. An international... Read more
An EPFL team is developing soft, flexible and reconfigurable robots. Air-actuated, they behave like human muscles and may be used in physical rehabilitation. They are made of low-cost materi... Read more
The potential to develop “materials that compute” has taken another leap at the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering, where researchers for the first time have demonstrat... 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
Lightweight suit to increase the wearer’s strength and endurance For decades engineers have built exoskeletons that use rigid links in parallel with the biological anatomy to increase... 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
From Harvard engineers, a machine that can walk through flames When it comes to soft robots, researchers have finally managed to cut the cord. Developers from Harvard’s School of Engineering... Read more
Increasingly small robots can carry out their functions even inside the human body. No, this isn’t a sci-fi dream. The technology is almost ready. However there is still one condition... Read more
The technique holds promise for use in “soft robotics” and biomedical applications. Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new technique for creating devices out o... Read more
Octopuses offer an extreme engineering challenge: They are almost infinitely flexible, entirely soft-bodied and incredibly intelligent. Are we vertebrate humans ever going to be able to buil... Read more