Humanoid robots look impressive and have enormous potential to change our daily lives, but they still have a reputation for ...

Soft robots are only as capable as the artificial muscles that drive them, and for years those muscles have forced a trade-off between strength and flexibility. A new magnetic polymer design is ...

Researchers at MIT, Harvard University and Seoul National University have engineered a soft autonomous robot that moves via peristalsis, crawling across surfaces by contracting segments of its body, ...

Scientists often look to the natural world for inspiration and ideas when creating synthetic materials. Plants and animals can rapidly respond to changes in the environment. An example is the way a ...

Although soft robotic graspers may be squishy on the outside, they usually still have hard, unyielding electronic components on the inside. A new and potentially more versatile bio-inspired grasping ...

Scientists at Johannes Kepler University (JKU) have created steerable soft robots that are capable of running, swimming, and jumping at high speeds. During testing, the robots achieved a speed of 70 ...

Inexpensive robots of all forms are on the rise. Meka uses compliant actuators called series elastic actuators (SEAs) in nearly all joints of its robotic systems. A spring between motor and load ...

In this Force Robot, tension cables loop around driveshaft capstans and wrap the “wings” of the arc-shaped linkages. When a motor drives the capstan, the cables transmit torque to the linkage. The ...