soft robot
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Tiny robotic fingers let humans interact with insects
Researchers have built robotic 'microfingers' that would let you safely touch insects.
Jon Fingas11.11.2022
Robotic sleeves can provide arm control to kids with cerebral palsy
Scientists are building robotic sleeves that could offer arm control to children with cerebral palsy, not to mention others with mobility issues.
Jon Fingas09.24.2022
Magnetic slime 'robot' could help recover swallowed objects
Scientists have developed a magnetic, self-healing slime 'robot' that could grab objects in your stomach.
Jon Fingas04.02.2022
Yukai Engineering's cute stuffed animal robot will nibble on your finger
Om nom nom.
Kris Holt12.31.2021
Soft robot can play piano thanks to 'air-powered' memory
Scientists have built a soft robot with pneumatic memory that can play the piano without relying on conventional chips.
Jon Fingas07.19.2021
UC San Diego's electronics-free soft robot only needs pressurized air to move
Engineers from the University of California San Diego have developed a four-legged soft robot that doesn't need electronic components to work.
Mariella Moon02.19.2021
Researchers built a breakdancing, light-powered hydrogel robot
The sea creature-inspired device is powered by light and magnetic fields.
Kris Holt12.11.2020
New 3D printing technique could make shapeshifting robots more practical
Scientists have developed a 3D printing method that could make shape-changing soft robots more practical.
Jon Fingas06.10.2020
Soft robots can now run like cheetahs and swim like marlins
The days of sedate soft robots could soon come to an end thanks to a novel robo-spine developed by researchers at North Carolina State University.
Andrew Tarantola05.09.2020
Scientists can 3D print insect-like robots in minutes
3D-printed 'flexoskeletons' make it possible to build a soft robot in less than two hours without extravagant costs.
Jon Fingas04.12.2020
MIT’s thread-like robot can slip through blood vessels in your brain
MIT engineers created a thread-like robot that can glide through the brain's blood vessels and could deliver clot-reducing drugs to treat strokes or aneurysms. The robotic thread could offer an alternative to open brain surgery, and it could be controlled by surgeons outside of the operating room. Theoretically, surgeons could control it remotely from an entirely different location.
Christine Fisher08.30.2019
Harvard's noodly robot fingers are great at grabbing jellyfish
Robots can be a bit heavy-handed. Their forceful grip might not be a problem when they're moving boxes in a warehouse, but they can damage fragile marine creatures like jellyfish. Researchers may have a solution. They've created a robotic hand with a squishy grabber and a gentle grip that uses "fettuccini-like silicone fingers" to catch and release fragile, gelatinous jellyfish.
Christine Fisher08.29.2019
Simpler, air-powered soft robots could help with space exploration
Soft robots promise a kinder, gentler approach to automation, but they're frequently hamstrung by complexity, costs and the need for wires. Thankfully, Harvard researchers have found a way to simplify matters. They've developed a softrobot driven by pressurized air that doesn't need the multiple control systems that frequently guide these machines. A lone input pumps air to the robot's legs through tubes of different sizes, which determines how those legs behave. If you want the robot to crawl forward, you just have to send air through the right set of tubes.
Jon Fingas06.02.2019
Self-healing 3D-printed gel has a future in robots and medicine
Robots might be a little more appealing -- and more practical -- if they're not made of hard, cold metal or plastic, but of a softer material. Researcher at Brown University believe they've developed a new material that could be ideal for "soft robotics." It's already demonstrated that it can pick up small, delicate objects, and it could form customized microfluidic devices -- sometimes called "labs-on-a-chip" and used for things like spotting aggressive cancers and making life-saving drugs in the field.
Christine Fisher03.23.2019
Prototype roboglove gives patients with weak grips a hand
For patients suffering from the effects of a stroke, ALS or muscular dystrophy, routine tasks like picking up a cup or grabbing a doorknob can be infuriatingly difficult. That's due to their lack of hand strength or fine motor control. However, this prototype "soft robotic" glove may soon restore their gripping abilities by doing the heavy squeezing for them. Developed by a research team at Harvard University, the glove is designed to augment the user's remaining hand strength and mobility. The device works by filling small water bladders located in each finger. When water from a reservoir on the wrist is pumped in, the fingers (and thumb) curl over in a grasping motion. Right now, that's all the glove is capable of doing. Still, that's enough for users to be able pick up and manipulate small objects they were not able to before.
Andrew Tarantola06.20.2015
DARPA's low-cost silicone robot cloaks like a chameleon, treks like a snail (video)
Remember those colorful sticky hands that you used to buy for a quarter from grocery store vending machines? Yeah, this is kind of like that -- except that it's a freaking robot. DARPA is currently working to develop low-cost silicone robots that use both air and fluid to control movement, color and temperature. In the following video, you can see one of these soft contraptions as it journeys onto a bed of rocks and then uses colored liquid to blend into its surroundings. Don't expect this glorious sticky hand to break any land speed records, however; the silicone bot can travel approximately 40 meters per hour, or up to 67 meters per hour without the fluid. (Even the 30 second video, which goes at a snail's pace, has been sped up five fold.) The current demonstration implements a tethered solution as the robot's source of power, pumps, gasses and liquids, but future developments may allow for a self-contained system. Further, rather than improving the robot's speed, its developers will instead focus on its flexibility as a means for navigating within tight spaces. Be sure to peep the video below, and we think you'll agree that DARPA's creation easily puts those sticky hands to shame.
Zachary Lutz08.17.2012
Harvard-designed 'soft robot' shows you how low it can go (video)
It's the stuff of slow-moving robopocalyptic nightmares: a 'soft robot' designed by a team of Harvard scientists that draws inspiration from invertebrates like worms and starfish. The wired 'bot is made from a flexible elastomer material that allows it to squeeze into spaces that are inaccessible for more traditional robots. Inside are chambers that inflate and deflate, allowing the thing to undulate forward. Definitely check out the robot in action after the break.
Brian Heater11.30.2011