Remote-controlled robot arms allow submersible operators to perform tasks underwater. But can you imagine a rigid metal limb interacting with something as fragile as jellyfish or corals? To be able to capture or interact with marine life, scientists...
Glove-controlled robot arm is soft enough to pet jellyfish
Remote-controlled robot arms allow submersible operators to perform tasks underwater. But can you imagine a rigid metal limb interacting with something as fragile as jellyfish or corals? To be able to capture or interact with marine life, scientists...
Observing fish in their natural ocean habitats goes a long way toward understanding their behaviors and interactions with the surrounding environment. But doing so isn't easy. Using underwater vehicles to get a look at these species is one option, bu...
Never mind 3D-printing organs -- the real dream is to make the tissue itself bend to your will, and UCSF scientists have managed just that. They've discovered that they can 'hack' special cells that help fold tissue (mesenchymal cells) to create 3D...
Octopuses are awe-inspiring creatures. They're smart, and they can camouflage themselves by changing colors and changing the texture of their skin to mimic the environment's. A group of scientists from Cornell University in New York and the Marine Bi...
A breakthrough in soft robotics means scientists are now one step closer to creating lifelike machines. Researchers at Columbia Engineering have developed a 3D printed synthetic tissue that can act as active muscle. The material, which can push, pull...
Robotic teams around the world are working on soft robots, because some situations call for a touch gentler than what a rigid machine can give. They can squish into tight locations for search-and-rescue missions, for instance, and pick up fragile obj...
Minimally invasive surgery is already amazing as it is, but a team of Harvard scientists have created a device that expands its possible applications even further. They designed a tiny robotic arm that lays flat while the endoscope is moving through...
It looks like Harvard's octopus robot is going to have some stiff competition. Chinese researchers have crafted a soft manta ray-inspired bot that could surveil the seas without harming nature in the process. Rather than rely on stiff metal or plas...
As slick as soft robots are, they tend to have very simple movements. It'd be a challenge to create a truly complex machine using existing technology. Researchers may have a solution to more sophisticated movement, though. They've invented a techn...
Most robot limbs aren't exactly kind to the organic world given all that unforgiving metal, and even rubber-based soft robots aren't very gentle. However, MIT has a better way. It recently built a hydrogel-based soft robot hand that's bio-friendly wh...