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.
Hardware
A smaller, lighter and more energy-efficient computer, demonstrated at the University of Michigan, could help save weight and power for autonomous drones and rovers, with implications for autonomous vehicles more broadly.
Mar 27, 2025
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Robotics
Scientists from TU Delft and EPFL have created a quadruped robot capable of running like a dog without the need for motors. This achievement, a product of combining innovative mechanics with data-driven technology, was published ...
Mar 27, 2025
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Robotics
Over the past decades, roboticists have introduced a wide range of systems that can move in various complex environments, including different terrains, on the ground, in the air, and even in water. To safely navigate real-world ...
Robotics
Imagine a robot that can walk, without electronics, and only with the addition of a cartridge of compressed gas, right off the 3D-printer. It can also be printed in one go, from one material.
Mar 25, 2025
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337
Robotics
How many robots does it take to screw in a lightbulb? The answer is more complicated than you might think. New research from Northeastern University upends the riddle by making a robot that is both flexible and sensitive ...
Mar 24, 2025
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96
Robotics
A joint research team has successfully developed a next-generation soft robot based on liquid. The research was published in Science Advances.
Mar 24, 2025
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Electronics & Semiconductors
In recent years, many engineers have been trying to develop hardware components that could emulate the functions of various biological systems, including synapses, the human skin and nerves. These bio-inspired systems include ...
Robotics
A team of mechanical engineers at Beihang University, working with a deep-sea diving specialist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a mechanic from Zhejiang University, all in China, have designed, built, and tested ...
Robotics
Engineers have designed robots that crawl, swim, fly and even slither like a snake, but no robot can hold a candle to a squirrel, which can parkour through a thicket of branches, leap across perilous gaps and execute pinpoint ...
Mar 19, 2025
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Electronics & Semiconductors
Prototyping large structures with integrated electronics, like a chair that can monitor someone's sitting posture, is typically a laborious and wasteful process.
Mar 18, 2025
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