Announcements

• Featured Research Topics:
  • Towards an Accessible Soft Robotics Toolbox and Validation Test Rig (Frontiers)
• Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. new open access journal: Robotics Reports (editor-in-chief: Dr. Surya Nurzaman, Monash University)

Featured Videos

• Frictional anisotropic locomotion and adaptive neural control for a soft crawling robot (IEEE Spectrum, Jan 2023)
• RoboSalps (IEEE Spectrum, Jan 2023)
• Hyperbaric Vacuum-based Artificial Muscles for High-performance Actuation (Soft Robotics Lab Youtube, Jan 2023)
• AMTL – DragonClaw: A Low-Cost Pneumatic Gripper with Integrated Magnetic Sensing (IEEE Spectrum, March 2023)
• Bio-inspired snakeskin enables effective slithering of a snake robot (IEEE Spectrum, March 2023)
• This Robot Is Soft, Strong and Totally Twisted (IEEE Spectrum, Feb 2023)
• Fiber pumps: the self-pumping tubes for future fluidics (MyLMTS YouTube, Mar 23)
• Artificial leaf creates electricity from raindrops and wind (IEEE Spectrum, Mar 23)
• SimTacLS: Simulation, Learning, and Application ofVision-Based Tactile Sensing at Large Scale (HO Lab YouTube, Mar 23)
• Bakery Automation Compilation (Soft Robotics Inc., Mar 23)
• Sea-Inspired Robots | Discovery Files Podcast (Nat Sci Found News, Feb 23)
• Castor Oil-based Elastomers for Sustainable Soft Robotics (Aleix Costa YouTube, Feb 23)

Featured Articles

Views and Reviews

• Perspectives on Computation in Plants (MIT Press, Feb 2023)
• Magnetically Actuated Continuum Medical Robots: A Review (Adv Intel Sys, Mar 23)
• Recent Advances in Perceptive Intelligence for Soft Robotics (Adv Intel Sys, Feb 23)
• Soft Mechanosensing via 3D Printing: A review (Adv Intel Sys, Feb 23)
• Towards Living Machines: current and future trends of tactile sensing, grasping, and social robotics (Boinsp Biomim, Feb 23)
• Perspective for soft robotics: the field’s past and future (Bioinsp Biomim, Mar 23)
• Soft robotics for physical simulators, artificial organs and implantable assistive devices (Prog Biomed Eng, Jan 23)
• Variable Stiffness Technologies for Soft Robotics: A Comparative Approach for the STIFF-FLOP Manipulator (Actuators, Jan 23)
• Continuum Robots: An Overview (Adv Intel Sys, Mar 23)
• Towards a Soft Science of Soft Robots. A Call for a Place for Aesthetics in Soft Robotics Research (ACM Trans Human Robot Intract, Mar 23)

New Materials, Actuators & Stiffening Methods

• Soft Mini Fuse Valve for Resilient Fluidically-Actuated Robots (IEEE RA-L, Mar 23)
• Photo-Responsive Bilayer Soft Actuators Synergic Fluorescence and Shape Change Towards Biomimetic Untethered Camouflage Robots (Adv Optic Mater, Feb 23)
• Mechanical Characterisation of Woven Pneumatic Active Textile (IEEE RA-L, March 2023)
• Programming 3D Curves with Discretely Constrained Cylindrical Inflatables (Adv Mater, Mar 23)
• Liquid Metal Smart Materials toward Soft Robotics (Adv Intel Sys, Apr 23)
• Design of Shape Actively Controllable Planar Pneumatic Kirigami Actuator (IEEE RA-L, March 2023)
• Soft Scalable Crawling Robots Enabled by Programmable Origami and Electrostatic Adhesion (IEEE RA-L, March 2023)
• Flexible and Slim Device Switching Air Blowing and Suction by a Single Airflow Control (IEEE RA-L, March 2023)
• Electrically Driven Robotic Pistons Exploiting Liquid-Vapor Phase Transition for Underwater Applications (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2023)
• Design, Fabrication, and Characterization of a Helical Adaptive Multi-Material MicroRobot (HAMMR) (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2023)
• Self-Reconfigurable Soft-Rigid Mobile Agent With Variable Stiffness and Adaptive Morphology (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2023)
• Fast Actuating Multi-Helically Heated Twisted and Coiled Polymer Actuator (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2023)
• Deployable Soft Origami Modular Robotic Arm With Variable Stiffness Using Facet Buckling (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2023)
• Inflated Bendable Eversion Cantilever Mechanism With Inner Skeleton for Increased Stiffness (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2023)
• Autonomous material composite morphing wing (Sage, Jan 2023)
• Biodegradable electrohydraulic actuators for sustainable soft robots (Science Advances, March 2023)
• Fiber pumps for wearable fluidic systems (Science, March 2023)
• An earthworm-like modular soft robot for locomotion in multi-terrain environments (Nature, Jan 2023)
• Self-vectoring electromagnetic soft robots with high operational dimensionality (Nature, Jan 2023)
• A bioadhesive robot to activate muscles (Nature, Feb 2023)
• A self-healing electrically conductive organogel composite (Nature, March 2023)
• Self-folding soft-robotic chains with reconfigurable shapes and functionalities (Nature, March 2023)
• Skin-integrated stretchable actuators toward skin-compatible haptic feedback and closed-loop human-machine interactions (Nature, Jan 2023)
• Three-dimensional ori-kirigami metamaterials with multistability (Physical Review, March 2023)
• Soft Deployable Structures via Core-Shell Inflatables (Physical Review, March 2023)
• Kirigami-Inspired 3D Printable Soft Pneumatic Actuators with Multiple Deformation Modes for Soft Robotic Applications (SoRo Journal,  Feb 2023)
• Power Autonomy and Agility Control of an Untethered Insect-Scale Soft Robot (SoRo Journal, Feb 2023)
• Modular Soft Robot with Origami Skin for Versatile Applications (SoRo Journal, March 2023)
• Modular Morphing Lattices for Large-Scale Underwater Continuum Robotic Structures (SoRo Journal, Feb 2023)
• Strong Reliable Electrostatic Actuation Based on Self-Clearing Using a Thin Conductive Layer (SoRo Journal, Feb 2023)
• Electroactive Thermo-Pneumatic Soft Actuator with Self-Healing Features: A Critical Evaluation (SoRo Journal, March 2023)
• Design and Control of Lightweight Bionic Arm Driven by Soft Twisted and Coiled Artificial Muscles (SoRo Journal, Feb 2023)
• Dielectric elastomer artificial muscle materials advancement and soft robotic applications (Smart Mat, Mar 2023)
• Anisotropic Contraction in a Magnetically Hard but Mechanically Ultra-Soft Foam for Precise Drug Delivery (Adv Mater Tech, Jan 23)
• Elastomers Grow into Actuators (Adv Mater, Jan 23)
• On variable stiffness of flexible parallel electroadhesive structures (Smart Mater Struct, Mar 23)
• Variable Stiffness Linear Actuator Based on Differential Drive Fiber Jamming (IEEE T-RO, Jan 23)

Sensing, Flexible Electronic & Skins

• Bending-Sensitive Optical Waveguide Sensor With Carbon-Fiber Layer for Monitoring Grip Strength (IEEE Transactions, March 2023)
• Embedded Six-DoF Force–Torque Sensor for Soft Robots With Learning-Based Calibration (IEEE Sensors, Jan 2023)
• Stretchable e-skin and transformer enable high-resolution morphological reconstruction for soft robots (Nature, Feb 2023)
• Conductive and elastic bottlebrush elastomers for ultrasoft electronics (Nature, Feb 2023)
• Soft wearable flexible bioelectronics integrated with an ankle-foot exoskeleton for estimation of metabolic costs and physical effort (Nature, Jan 2023)
• Soft Electromagnetic Motor and Soft Magnetic Sensors for Synchronous Rotary Motion (SoRo Journal, March 2023)
• A Skin-Like Soft Compression Sensor for Robotic Applications (SoRo Journal, March 2023)
• Soft Wearable Rehabilitation Robots with Artificial Muscles based on Smart Materials: A Review (Adv Intel Sys, Mar 23)
• An audio-tactile interface based on dielectric elastomer actuators (Smart Mater Struct, Feb 23)
• Design, testing and control of a smart haptic interface driven by 3D-printed soft pneumatic actuators for virtual reality-based hand rehabilitation (Smart Mater Struct, Mar 23)
• Fully 3D-Printed, Stretchable, and Conformable Haptic Interfaces (Adv FUnc Mater, Feb 23)

Fabrication Techniques & Hardware Toolkits

• Toward the Development of Large-Scale Inflatable Robotic Arms Using Hot Air Welding (SoRo Journal, Feb 2023)
• 3D Printing of Small-Scale Soft Robots with Programmable Magnetization (Adv Func Mater, Jan 23)
• One-shot additive manufacturing of robotic finger with embedded sensing and actuation (Int J Adv Manufact Tech, Nov 22)
• Inexpensive monolithic additive manufacturing of silicone structures for bio-inspired soft robotic systems (Eng Res Exp, Feb 23)

Locomotion, Swimming & Flying

• A 3.4-Millimeter Flea-Sized Robot With Powerful Jumping and Fast Crawling Locomotion (IEEE RA-L, March 2023)
• Centimeter-Scale Underwater Robot With High-Speed Inspired by Jellyfish (IEEE RA-L, Mar 2023)
• Tunable Dynamic Walking via Soft Twisted Beam Vibration (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2023)
• Magnetic-field-induced propulsion of jellyfish-inspired soft robotic swimmers (Physical Review, Jan 2023)
• An Underwater Bionic Snake Soft Robot with Tunable Deformation and Motion Based on Composite Materials (Adv Mat Tech, Mar 23)
• https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/admt.202201813 (Adv Mat Tech, Mar 23)
• Modular Design of a Polymer-Bilayer-Based Mechanically Compliant Worm-Like Robot (Adv Mater, Feb 23)
• A Visible and Near-Infrared Light-Fueled Omnidirectional Twist-Bend Crawling Robot (Adv Func Mater, Feb 23)
• Inchworm-Like Soft Robot with Multimodal Locomotion Using an Acrylic Stick-Constrained Dielectric Elastomer Actuator (Adv Intel Sys, Jan 23)

Manipulation & Grasping

• Octopus-Inspired Suction Cup Array for Versatile Grasping Operations (IEEE RA-L, March 2023)
• Compliant Suction Gripper With Seamless Deployment and Retraction for Robust Picking Against Depth and Tilt Errors (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2023)
• Large Torsion Thin Artificial Muscles Tensegrity Structure for Twist Manipulation (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2023)
• Enhancing the Tensile-Shaping Stability of Soft Elongation Actuators for Grasping Applications (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2023)
• A Multi-DoF Exoskeleton Haptic Device for the Grasping of a Compliant Object Adapting to a User’s Motion Using Jamming Transitions (IEEE Transactions, Jan 2023)
• A Soft Gripper with Granular Jamming and Electroadhesive Properties (Adv Intel Sys, Mar 23)
• Soft robotic finger with variable effective length enabled by an antagonistic constraint mechanism (Smart Mater Struct, Mar 23)
• User-Driven Design and Development of an Underwater Soft Gripper for Biological Sampling and Litter Collection (Marin Sci Eng, Mar 23)

Biomimicry & Bioinspiration

• Inspired by Physical Intelligence of an Elephant Trunk: Biomimetic Soft Robot With Pre-Programmable Localized Stiffness (IEEE RA-L, March 2023)
• Device for Simultaneous Wind and Raindrop Energy Harvesting Operating on the Surface of Plant Leaves (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2023)
• Caterpillar-inspired soft crawling robot with distributed programmable thermal actuation (Science Advances, March 2023)
• Bio-inspired magnetic-driven folded diaphragm for biomimetic robot (Nature, Jan 2023)
• A Gecko-Inspired Robot with a Flexible Spine Driven by Shape Memory Alloy Springs (SoRo Journal, Feb 2023)
• Spider-Inspired, Fully 3D-Printed Micro-Hydraulics for Tiny, Soft Robotics (Adv Func Mat, Mar 23)
• Soft Robots for Cluttered Environments Based on Origami Anisotropic Stiffness Structure (OASS) Inspired by Desert Iguana (Adv Intel Sys, Mar 23)
• 4D Printing of Humidity-Driven Seed Inspired Soft Robots (Adv Sci, Feb 23)
• Analysis modeling and experiment of bionic winding soft actuator inspired by plant tendrils (Smart Mater Struct, Feb 23)

Soft Robot Applications

• Restoring arm function with a soft robotic wearable for individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Science, Feb 2023)
• A High-Strength, Highly-Flexible Robotic Strap for Harnessing, Lifting, and Transferring Humans (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2023)
• Design and Evaluation of the SoftSCREEN Capsule for Colonoscopy (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2023)
• Soft robotic patient-specific hydrodynamic model of aortic stenosis and ventricular remodeling (Science Robotics, Feb 2023)
• Anti-inflammatory therapy enables robot-actuated regeneration of aged muscle (Science Robotics, March 2023)
• Development of a comfort suit-type soft-wearable robot with flexible artificial muscles for walking assistance (Nature, March 2023)
• Metamorphic aerial robot capable of mid-air shape morphing for rapid perching (Nature, Jan 2023)
• A Lower Limb Rehabilitation Assistance Training Robot System Driven by an Innovative Pneumatic Artificial Muscle System (SoRo Journal, Feb 2023)
• A Millimeter-Scale Soft Robot for Tissue Biopsy Procedures (Adv Intel Sys, Jan 23)
• Study on the effects of shoe cushioning on trail-running: perception, bench test and biomechanical approach (Foot Sci, Feb 23)

Theory: Learning, Modeling, & Control

• Path Planning Method With Constant Bending Angle Constraint for Soft Growing Robot Using Heat Welding Mechanism (IEEE RA-L, March 2023)
• Design and Modeling of a Hybrid Soft Robotic Manipulator With Compliant Mechanism (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2023)
• Implementation of Basic Reflex Functions on Musculoskeletal Robots Driven by Pneumatic Artificial Muscles (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2023)
• Dynamic Control of Soft Robotic Arm: An Experimental Study (IEEE RA-L, Feb 2023)
• Control and Morphology Optimization of Passive Asymmetric Structures for Robotic Swimming (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2023)
• Asymmetric Continuum Robots (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2023)
• Imitation-Based Motion Planning and Control of a Multi-Section Continuum Robot Interacting With the Environment (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2023)
• The Folded Pneumatic Artificial Muscle (foldPAM): Towards Programmability and Control via End Geometry (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2023)
• Reconfigurable, Multi-Material, Voxel-Based Soft Robots (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2023)
• Modelling of Tendon-Driven Continuum Robot Based on Constraint Analysis and Pseudo-Rigid Body Model (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2023)
• Towards a Physics-Based Model for Steerable Eversion Growing Robots (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2023)
• An Improved Koopman-MPC Framework for Data-Driven Modeling and Control of Soft Actuators (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2023)
• P-satI-D Shape Regulation of Soft Robots (IEEE RA-L, Jan 2023)
• Position and Orientation Control of Multisection Magnetic Soft Microcatheters (IEEE Transactions, Jan 2023)
• Adaptive Visual Servoing Shape Control of a Soft Robot Manipulator Using Bézier Curve Features (IEEE Transactions, Jan 2023)
• Dynamic response prediction of hydraulic soft robotic arms based on LSTM neural network (Sage, Feb 2023)
• Learning to self-fold at a bifurcation (Physical Review, Feb 2023)
• Soft Robot Proprioception Using Unified Soft Body Encoding and Recurrent Neural Network (SoRo Journal, March 2023)
• Dynamic Research on Nonlinear Locomotion of Inchworm-Inspired Soft Crawling Robot (SoRo Journal, Jan 2023)
• Macro Fiber Composite-Actuated Soft Robotic Fish: A Gray Box Model-Predictive Motion Planning Strategy Under Limited Actuation (SoRo Journal, March 2023)
• Modeling, Analysis, and Computational Design of Muscle-driven Soft Robots (SoRo Journal, March 2023)
• Optimal Control of Dielectric Elastomer Actuated Multibody Dynamical Systems (SoRo Journal, March 2023)
• Omnidirectional Jump Control of a Locust-Computer Hybrid Robot (SoRo Journal, Feb 2023)
• Adaptive Actuation of Magnetic Soft Robots Using Deep Reinforcement Learning (Adv Intel Sys, Jan 23)
• Discrete Cosserat Static Model-Based Control of Soft Manipulator (IEEE RA-L, Mar 23)
• Design and Modeling Framework for DexTeR: Dexterous Continuum Tensegrity Manipulator (ASME J Mech Robot, Mar 23)

Embodied Intelligence & Morphological Computation

• On the Stability and Behavioral Diversity of Single and Collective Bernoulli Balls (MIT Press, Jan 2023)

Featured News Articles

• This Robot Is Soft, Strong and Totally Twisted (IEEE Spectrum, Feb 2023), This Robot Is Soft, Strong and Totally Twisted Tensegrity robot achieves high torsional motion (IEEE Spectrum, Feb 23)
• Soft Robots Take Steps toward Independence (Scientific American, Feb 2023)
• Cat Toys, Toaster Bots, and Scolding Lamps The HRI Student Design Competition shows off some fun ideas for affordable robots with real-life utility (IEEE Spectrum, Mar 23)
• Artificial Leaf Draws Power From Wind and Raindrops A single drop can produce 40 volts of electricity (IEEE Spectrum, Mar 23)
• Soft-robotic wearable helps people with ALS raise their arms (New Atlas, Feb 23)
• Novel robotic system can 3D print cells onto organs inside the body (New Atlas, Feb 23), 3D Bioprinter Prints Tissue in Situ The prototype could double as an all-in-one surgical tool (IEEE Spectrum, Mar 23)
• Robotic Gripper Helps Clean Up Hazardous Liquid Spills (ASME, Mar 23)