In 1920, inventor Nikola Tesla patented a type of pipe that he called a "valvular conduit," which was built to draw fluid in one direction without any moving parts or added energy, and has applications ranging from soft robotics ...
Engineers at the University of Colorado Boulder have designed a new, rubber-like film that can leap high into the air like a grasshopper—all on its own and without needing outside intervention. Just heat it up and watch ...
Soft robots have phenomenally advanced in recent years. Microscale soft robots designated to navigate difficult paths and perform biological functions in the human body could have profound potential biomedical applications ...
Researchers have developed a synthetic system that responds to environmental changes in the same way as living organisms, using a feedback loop to maintain its internal conditions. This not only keeps the material's conditions ...
Inspired by living things from trees to shellfish, researchers at The University of Texas at Austin set out to create a plastic much like many life forms that are hard and rigid in some places and soft and stretchy in others. ...
Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed soft devices containing algae that glow in the dark when experiencing mechanical stress, such as being squished, stretched, twisted or bent. The devices ...
In the American action movie "Pacific Rim," giant robots called "Jaegers" fight against unknown monsters to save mankind. These robots are equipped with artificial muscles that mimic real living bodies and defeat monsters ...
A team of researchers from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) has developed a new approach for adopting the Freeform Liquid 3D Printing (FL-3DP) technology to 3D print more robust and geometrically complex ...
University of Houston researchers are reporting a breakthrough in the field of materials science and engineering with the development of an electrochemical actuator that uses specialized organic semiconductor nanotubes (OSNTs).
Blisters (tiny air pockets) or loops in Band-Aids or tapes can be quite annoying and difficult to remove. What's more, they can also affect the materials used to make flexible electronics and soft robotics. Researchers from ...
