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
Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed artificial muscles that contain microbubbles and can be controlled with ultrasound. In the future, these muscles could be deployed in technical and medical settings as gripper arms, ...
Oct 29, 2025
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Robotics
The commercialization of clothing-type wearable robots has taken a significant step forward with the development of equipment that can continuously and automatically weave ultra-thin shape memory alloy coil yarn—thinner than ...
Oct 29, 2025
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Robotics
Inspired by the human eye, our biomedical engineering lab at Georgia Tech has designed an adaptive lens made of soft, light-responsive, tissuelike materials. Our study is published in the journal Science Robotics.
Oct 23, 2025
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Robotics
An international team led by researchers at the University of Waterloo has developed a new material that can be used as flexible artificial muscles to replace rigid motors and pumps in robots and allow them to move more naturally ...
Oct 23, 2025
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Engineering
Miniaturized electronics and intricate objects require a certain finesse. Researchers have looked into the development of a machine capable of these fine movements, while identifying and categorizing the objects using machine ...
Oct 21, 2025
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Robotics
A new 3D printing technique can create paper-thin "magnetic muscles," which can be applied to origami structures to make them move.
Oct 20, 2025
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Robotics
Could tiny magnetic objects, that rapidly clump together and instantly fall apart again, one day perform delicate procedures inside the human body? A new study from researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent ...
Oct 16, 2025
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Robotics
Researchers have invented a new super agile robot that can cleverly change shape thanks to amorphous characteristics akin to the popular Marvel anti-hero Venom.
Oct 16, 2025
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Robotics
Microrobots, small robotic systems that are less than 1 centimeter (cm) in size, could tackle some real-world tasks that cannot be completed by bigger robots. For instance, they could be used to monitor confined spaces and ...
Robotics
Researchers have created a class of robots made from thin sheets of material that can snap into hundreds of stable shapes, allowing them to execute a wide variety of actions despite the fact that they have no motor and are ...
Oct 15, 2025
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