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Robotics go underground
July 26th, 2021
Researchers at the University of California Santa Barbara have developed a fast, steerable, burrowing soft robot. Photo: Hawkes Lab/UCSB. Plant growth and burrowing animals inspire breakthrough technology. by Janet Preus Soft robotics have received deserved attention lately, and ongoing research is demonstrating real progress in this science, particularly when used in exoskeletons. Mobile robots that can […]
A “smart foam” could give machines a sense of touch
May 24th, 2021
As smart as robots and machines are becoming, the sense of touch and the ability to feel complexities in the machine’s surroundings is still reserved for humans. But a team of researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have now invented a "smart foam" that can give machines more than a human touch. National […]
A breakthrough for soft robotics
March 8th, 2021
Soft robotic clothing that could help people to move more easily is a step closer to reality with the development of a new flexible and lightweight power system for soft robotics. Researchers from Bristol University, Bristol, U.K., have successfully demonstrated a new electro-pneumatic pump that is soft, bendable, low-cost, easy to make and about the […]
Yale researchers announce new shape-shifting material
October 12th, 2020
Photo: Yale University, the lab of Prof. Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio A new robotic fabric structure, developed in the lab of Prof. Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio at Yale University, could lead to new innovations in adaptive clothing, self-deploying shelters, or lightweight shape-changing machinery. The robotic fabric created by the researchers has actuation, sensing and variable stiffness fibers while retaining the […]
Twisting elastomers show promise in soft robotics
June 22nd, 2020
Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh and Harvard University have demonstrated a new method for 'programming' liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) that enables them to twist and bend in the presence of light. This made it possible to replicate the complex twisting actions of the human muscle system in the materials, a breakthrough particularly useful for applications in soft robotics […]
Textile-based robots
June 25th, 2018
Harvard researchers collaborate in developing soft, wearable robotics for hands. Soft, wearable robotics is an emerging field which looks at methods of enabling functional, powered support to assist human movements using lightweight, low-profile and flexible materials such as textiles. A diverse team of researchers in the Harvard Biodesign Lab at the Wyss Institute for Biologically […]