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New soft robots could self-navigate unknown spaces
March 25th, 2024
Researchers have developed a new soft robot design that rolls, spins and can orbit in a confined space. Photo: Yin Lab@NCSU, North Carolina State University. Researchers at North Carolina State University (NCSU) have developed a new soft robot design that engages in three simultaneous behaviors: rolling forward, spinning like a record, and following a path that […]
E-skin can produce tactile feedback
March 25th, 2024
In recent years, materials scientists and engineers have introduced increasingly sophisticated materials for robotic and prosthetic applications, including a range of electronic skins, or e-skins, designed to sense the surrounding environment and artificially reproduce the sense of touch. As explained on techxplore.com, researchers at Tsinghua University in Beijing recently introduced a new dual-modal tactile e-skin that could […]
Smart fabric responds to both temperature and electricity
May 22nd, 2023
Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, say that a new smart fabric is the first to change both color and shape in response to two different stimuli. Inexpensively made with polymer nanocomposite fibers from recycled plastic, the material is activated by both heat and electricity and is programmable. The unique design paves […]
Biomimetic soft “seed robot” can navigate through soil
May 8th, 2023
Researchers at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Genova have created what they say is the first 4D-printed, biomimetic, biodegradable, soft robot that changes shape in response to humidity and can navigate through soil. The researchers say the device has great potential as a new means of monitoring the environment. Photo: Istituto Italiano di Tecnología. 4D […]
Magnetic biomedical devices can pop into shape as needed
April 24th, 2023
As MaSoChain instruments are pushed out of a catheter, magnets within their segments cause them to take on predetermined shapes. Photo: ETH Zurich / Nicole Davidson. One of the challenges of minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery lies in getting surgical instruments into the patient's body via a narrow catheter. Scientists have set about addressing that problem […]
Re-defining soft robotics with self-healing, conductive gel
April 10th, 2023
An external strip of the gel connects the battery to the motor on this soft robotic snail. Photo: Carnegie Mellon University College of Engineering. A new material could help produce self-healing and conductive robotic devices that are also soft. Developed by a team of scientists at Carnegie Mellon University, the substance consists of a gelatinous […]
Automated knitting streamlines fabrication of assistive wearables
May 9th, 2022
MIT scientists have used autonomous knitting to create soft, wearable assistive robotics with integrated sensing. Photo: MIT, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). Scientists from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have devised a scalable pipeline to computationally design and digitally fabricate soft pneumatic actuators. “PneuAct” has addressed an issue with soft robotics, […]
Progress through collaboration
April 25th, 2022
Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) presented and exhibited at the Smart Fabrics Summit, showing AFFOA advanced functional fiber preforms and advanced fibers demonstrating semiconductor devices (LED chips) embedded into fibers. The Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) continues to be in the forefront of new developments in technologies for advanced textile systems. Michelle Farrington, […]
Deployable inflatable robotics have multiple applications
November 8th, 2021
A soft, inflatable robotic hand is capable of grasping an item with accuracy without damaging it. Photo: Ryzing Technologies. Robotics. Flexible robotics. Flexible, inflatable robotics. Deployable, inflatable robotic systems. At each step this method of addressing a range of challenges gets more complex, but the possibilities for its practical uses grow, as well. The fundamental […]
Inflatable hand could give amputees real-time tactile control
September 27th, 2021
An MIT-developed inflatable robotic smart hand gives amputees real-time tactile control, is soft, elastic and costs a fraction of comparable prosthetics. Photo: MIT/the researchers. Engineers at MIT and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have designed a soft, lightweight and potentially low-cost neuro-prosthetic hand that can give an amputee the ability to perform daily activities with dexterity. […]