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
Biological systems have inspired the development of next-generation soft robotic systems with diverse motions and functions. Such versatility in soft robots—in terms of rapid and efficient crawling—can be achieved via asymmetric ...
Aug 21, 2025
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Engineering
In a towering aquarium in a darkened laboratory, moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) hover as if floating in space. The glow of neon lights illuminates their translucent, bell-shaped bodies as they expand and contract rhythmically, ...
Aug 21, 2025
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Robotics
At UC Berkeley, researchers in Sergey Levine's Robotic AI and Learning Lab eyed a table where a tower of 39 Jenga blocks stood perfectly stacked. Then a white-and-black robot, its single limb doubled over like a hunched-over ...
Aug 20, 2025
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Robotics
Modular robots built by Dartmouth researchers are finding their feet outdoors. Engineered to assemble into structures that best suit the task at hand, the robots are pieced together from cube-shaped robotic blocks that combine ...
Aug 20, 2025
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Robotics
Nature, particularly humans and other animals, has always been among the primary sources of inspiration for roboticists. In fact, most existing robots physically resemble specific animals and/or are engineered to tackle tasks ...
Robotics
Most existing robots designed to move on the ground rely on either wheels or legs, as opposed to a combination of the two. Yet robots that can seamlessly switch between wheeled and legged locomotion could be highly advantageous, ...
Engineering
Scientists from Virginia Tech have discovered a way to make ice move on its own. It's not a magic trick or a supernatural occurrence but a clever engineering feat. The team designed a flat metal surface that allows ice disks ...
Robotics
When designing new robots, engineers often look to nature for inspiration. They base their robots on the designs and behaviors of snakes, fish, humans, and more, such as sea slugs, whose feeding behaviors have been studied ...
Aug 14, 2025
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Robotics
Science frequently draws inspiration from the natural world. After all, nature has had billions of years to perfect its systems and processes. Taking their cue from mollusk catch muscles, researchers have developed a low-voltage, ...
Robotics
To effectively tackle a variety of real-world tasks, robots should be able to reliably grasp objects of different shapes, textures and sizes, without dropping them in undesired locations. Conventional approaches to enhancing ...
