Bioinspired soft robotics investigates compliant robotic systems that emulate the mechanics, morphology, and control strategies of animals and other biological organisms. The field develops artificial muscles, soft actuators, and mechanical metamaterials using polymers, hydrogels, liquid crystal elastomers, and textile or origami-based structures to achieve muscle-like motion, shape morphing, and adaptive stiffness. It spans scales from sub-millimeter microrobots to larger soft-bodied platforms, integrating sensing, flexible electronics, and biohybrid components for autonomous locomotion, manipulation, and interaction in complex environments, particularly in aquatic and terrestrial settings.
Robotics
Until now, when scientists created magnetic robots, their magnetization profiles were generally fixed, enabling only a specific type of shape programming capability using applied external magnetic fields. Researchers at the ...
Sep 15, 2025
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Robotics
Birds flock in order to forage and move more efficiently. Fish school to avoid predators. And bees swarm to reproduce. Recent advances in artificial intelligence have sought to mimic these natural behaviors as a way to potentially ...
Sep 9, 2025
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Robotics
A team of scientists from China and the U.S. is pioneering the development of bubble-powered robots, which could one day replace needles for painless drug delivery into the body. Inspired by nature, the researchers developed ...
Engineering
Princeton engineers are twisting, stretching and creasing structures to create a new type of origami, one that changes its shape and properties in response to changing circumstances. The new method could be useful for prosthetics, ...
Sep 6, 2025
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Engineering
University of Iowa researchers have reported a key advance in the ease of flow and maneuverability for underwater vehicles.
Sep 4, 2025
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Robotics
Everyday occurrences like snapping hair clips or clicking retractable pens feature a mechanical phenomenon known as "snap-through." Small insects and plants like the Venus flytrap cleverly use this snap-through effect to ...
Sep 1, 2025
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Robotics
Skoltech and MSU scientists have uncovered the advantage gained by microscopic bugs from their feather-like wings that are unlike those of dragonflies, bees, mosquitoes and other familiar insects. A wing largely made up of ...
Aug 29, 2025
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Robotics
Able to undergo repeated compressions without losing their shape, woven materials could form robots, exoskeletons, car parts, architectural components and more.
Aug 28, 2025
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Robotics
Soft robotics, which uses flexible and deformable materials, is an emerging field in autonomous systems. It has recently been applied to next-generation tasks such as deep-sea sampling with soft robotic grippers—requiring ...
Aug 27, 2025
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Robotics
Henan University of Technology researchers report on the development of a lightweight lattice-based limb design for a bionic robot. Lightweight structures that can withstand high loads and torsion are in demand in a range ...
