Plant-based materials give ‘life’ to tiny soft robots
A team of researchers has created smart, advanced materials that will be the building blocks for a future generation of soft medical microrobots. These tiny robots have the potential to conduct medical procedures, such as biopsy, and cell and tissue transport, in a minimally invasive fashion.
Robotics researchers, engineers and materials scientists showed it is possible to make programmable, nonelectronic circuits that control the actions of soft robots by processing information encoded in bursts of compressed air.
Inspired by living systems, researchers have developed a new material that changes its electrical behavior based on previous experience, effectively giving it a basic form of adaptive memory. Such adaptive materials could play a vital role in the next generation of medical and environmental sensors, as well as in soft…
Seeing robots made with soft, flexible parts in action appears to lower people's anxiety about working with them or even being replaced by them. A study found that watching videos of a soft robot working with a person at picking and placing tasks lowered the viewers' safety concerns and feelings…