[Newsletter] January – March 2026

Announcements

Views and Reviews

12 entries
Recent Advances in Decoupling Strategies for Soft Sensors (Adv Sci, Mar-26)
Structured Multimaterial Fibers Enabling Intelligent Robots (Adv Mater, Mar-26)
A review of the structural design of bionic soft robots based on flexible materials (Smart Mater Struct, Feb-26)
Magneto-X Effects in Magnetic Soft Materials and Their Applications (Adv Sci, Mar-26)
Multifunctional Hydrogel Interfaces: Reshaping the Future of Flexible Electronics (Adv Mater, Mar-26)
Electromagnetic (EM)-Driven Functional Materials (Adv Mater, Feb-26)
Liquid Metals for Reconfigurable Bioelectronics (Adv Mater, Mar-26)
Single-Fiber Design for Higher Performance Artificial Muscles (Adv Mater, Mar-26)
Soft Robotics and Advanced Technologies for Minimally Invasive Bioprinting: The Future of Internal Organ Repair (Adv Sci, Apr-26)
Soft Ionic and Electronic Triboelectric Nanogenerators: Toward Attachable and Implantable Biomedical Applications (Adv Mater, Jan-26)
State of the art in soft eversion robots for colonoscopy: a review (Prog. Biomed. Eng, Jan-26)
Embodying physical computing into soft robots (Nature Commun, Mar-26)


New Materials, Actuators & Stiffening Methods

24 entries
Phase-Change Alloys Enable Localized Reversible Stiffening and Actuation in Steerable Eversion Tip-Growing Robots (Adv Int Sys, Dec-25)
Clutchable Soft Actuators Produce Rapid, High-Power Movements in Robotic Artificial Musculoskeletal Systems (IEEE RA-L, Mar-26)
Ultralight soft electrostatic actuators based on solid-liquid-gas architectures (Nature Commun, Feb-26)
Design of an Active Morphable Pneumatic Bilayer Planar Actuator Inspired by Starfish (IEEE RA-L, Jan-26)
Design of reprogrammable soft pneumatic actuators via physically cut-induced variable constraints (Smart Mater Struct, Jan-26)
Scalable High-Force Zipping Electrostatic Actuators (Adv Int Sys, Mar-26)
Design and characteristic analysis of a vacuum-powered soft actuator with endoskeleton reinforcement (Smart Mater Struct, Feb-26)
On-Demand Activation of Thin Alginate Shell Encapsulated Volatile Liquid for Untethered Pneumatic Soft Actuation (Adv Eng Mater, Feb-26)
Design and development of a self-sensing control for spin crossover based soft electrothermal actuators (Smart Mater Struct, Jan-26)
Design of a variable-stiffness soft actuator based on lateral fiber jamming (Smart Mater Struct, Feb-26)
Programmable Shape Recovery Onset Temperatures via Phase-Separated Dual-Network Polymers (Adv Func Mater, Apr-26)
Autonomous Hydrogel Actuators Programmed by Endogenous Biochemical Logic for Dual-Stage Morphing and Drug Release (Adv Mater, Feb-26)
Deep learning of long short-term memory neural networks in shape memory polymers towards shape memory behaviors (Polymer, Feb-26)
Porous Hybrid Soft Actuators From Liquid Crystal Networks and Lyotropic Chromonic Liquid Crystal Templated Hydrogels (Adv Mater, Feb-26)
Monolithic UV-Laser Programming of Photothermally Meta-Morphing SMA Structures: Dual-Encoded Kirigami Mechanics and Photonic Absorbance (Adv Sci, Mar-26)
Jointless Tongue-Like Bioactuator for Multidirectional Motion Through Directional Electrical Stimulation (Adv Int Sys, Jan-26)
Photothermal-Responsive Lignin-Based Liquid Crystalline Elastomers: Constructing High-Performance Artificial Muscles via a Dual Dynamic Network (Adv Func Mater, Mar-26)
Digital Actuation Control of Soft Robotic Origami With Self-Folding Liquid Crystal Elastomer Hinges (Adv Func Mater, Mar-26)
Soft actuation via harnessing entropic elastic energy: from theory to morphing wings (Smart Mater Struct, Jan-26)
Programmable multimodal actuation in cholesteric liquid crystal elastomer hollow fibers beyond mechanochromism. (Nature Commun, )
Continuous fabrication of Janus liquid crystal elastomer fibers with programmable actuation (Nature Commun, Feb-26)
Clickable Microgel Inks Enable Spatioselective, Multi-Stimuli Programmable Assembly of Materials (Adv Sci, Apr-26)
Anomalous thermomechanical actuation of liquid crystal elastomer balloons (Extreme Mech Lett, Mar-26)
A reconfigurable dielectric elastomer actuator via phase-transitional ferrofluid enables sustainable operation (Science Advances, Mar-26)

Sensing, Flexible Electronic & Skins

33 entries
A Strain Decoupling Packaging Strategy for High-Fidelity Ultrathin Silicon Shape Sensors for Soft Medical Robotics (Adv Sci, Apr-26)
Understanding the Roles of Microstructure and Viscoelasticity of Soft Ionic Elastomer for Super-Capacitive Pressure Sensors (Adv Sci, Mar-26)
Modulus Engineered Substrate With Vertical Soft Interconnects for Ultra-Stable Stretchable Multilayer Electronic Systems (Adv Mater, Mar-26)
A Fully Soft Sensing Suit With Optimal Sensor Placement for Real-Time Motion Tracking (Adv Int Sys, Jan-26)
Miniature Nanomesh Mechano-Acoustic Sensor with Wide Linear Dynamic Range, Broad Bandwidth, and Flat Frequency Response (Adv Func Mater, Mar-26)
Hysteresis-free and dynamically resilient strain sensor enabled by interfacial coordination (Science Advances, Jan-26)
Flexible pressure sensors with microstructured surfaces fabricated via direct fused deposition modeling (Sens Actuators A, Jun-26)
Geometry-programmed self-wrinkling in organo-hydrogels for anisotropic mechanics and adaptive sensing. (Nature Commun, )
Lightweight, elastic and flexible PEDOT/sponge thermoelectric composite for self-powered temperature/pressure dual-parameter sensors (Smart Mater Struct, Jan-26)
Actuating and Sensing Composites of Liquid Crystal Elastomers and Poly(ionic liquid)s (Adv Func Mater, Mar-26)
Self-Healing Starch-Based Ionogels with Hydroneutral Dipole-Dipole Interactions (Adv Sci, Feb-26)
Stress-Tunable Multi-Functional Sensing Gel Fiber via Water-Controlled Design for High Stability (Adv Func Mater, Feb-26)
Ultrasensitive soft vibration sensors based on atomically thin metal dichalcogenide ribbon networks (Science Advances, Mar-26)
CapTac: Robust Capacitive Sensing for Distributed Force Mapping in Parallel Robotic Grasping (IEEE RA-L, Mar-26)
Nanomesh Reinforced Eutectogel by Interfacial Engineering for Human Motion Monitoring and Machine Learning-Enabled Gesture Recognition (Adv Func Mater, Feb-26)
A Laminating Strategy to Manyfold Enhance the Elastic Stretchability of Stretchable Electronics (Adv Sci, Apr-26)
Training tactile sensors to learn force sensing from each other (Nature Commun, Jan-26)
Large-Area 2D Metasurface-Based Triboelectric E-Skin Arrays: Contact & Proximity Tactile Mapping with Broadband Acoustic Readouts (Adv Mater, Feb-26)
Predictive design of stretchable electrodes with strain-insensitive performance via robotics- and machine learning-integrated workflow (Nature Commun, Jan-26)
Strain-Engineered Gradient-Modulus Platforms for Mechanically Robust and Conformable Hybrid Electronics (Adv Func Mater, Mar-26)
Conductive hydrogels with oriented dual-network structure for flexible strain sensors: Integrating strength, adhesion, and orientation-dependent sensing (Polymer, Feb-26)
Soft photo-ionotronics (Nature Commun, Feb-26)
A flexible capacitive pressure sensor with a double-sawtooth structure for high resolution pressure sensing (Polymer, Feb-26)
Monitoring Electrostatic Adhesion Forces via Acoustic Pressure (IEEE RA-L, Mar-26)
Counterion Dependent Side-Chain Relaxation Stiffens a Chemically Doped Thienothiophene Copolymer (Adv Func Mater, Jan-26)
Liquid Touch: Soft and Wearable Vibrotactile Actuators Based on Room Temperature Liquid Metals (Adv Eng Mater, Mar-26)
Spraying Conformal Hydrogel Skins as Functional Platform (Adv Func Mater, Jan-26)
Abrasion-resistant wearable skins based on bilayered solid/liquid stretchable conductors. (Nature Commun, )
Catheter-Deployable Janus Hydrogel Actuator for Magnetically Guided Biliary Repair With Machine-Learning Assisted Mechano-Sensing (Adv Func Mater, Feb-26)
Scalable and stretchable 1D multifunctional fibers for multimodal sensing and stimulation (Nature Commun, Mar-26)
In Situ Synthesis of Biocompatible and Functionalizable Core-Shell Conductive Nanocomposites for Stretchable Electronics (Adv Mater, Mar-26)
Towards a wearable format for transducing responsive swelling in hydrogels (Mater Adv, Apr-26)
Bidirectional flexible composite force sensors based on FBG sensing and piezoresistive sensing principles (Sens Actuators A, Mar-26)

Fabrication Techniques & Hardware Toolkits

23 entries
Soft 3D-Printed Endoskeleton for Precise Tendon Routing in Soft Robotics (IEEE RA-L, Feb-26)
Printable E-Skin by Direct Ink Writing From Recyclable Hydrogel (Adv Func Mater, Jan-26)
Monolithic 3D Printing of Origami-Inspired Soft Robotics from Sustainable Bio-Based Resin (Adv Sci, Mar-26)
Liquids as Reinforcements for Anisotropic and Tough Soft Matter Composites (Adv Mater, Feb-26)
Pellet Printing for Soft Robotic Devices (Adv Sci, Mar-26)
Vacuum-Laser Fabrication of Programmable Soft Actuators (Adv Sci, Mar-26)
Multi-Modal Sensing in Colonoscopy: A Data-Driven Approach (IEEE RA-L, Feb-26)
Polymerizable Deep Eutectic Solvents-Enabled High-Lignin-Density Networks for Ambient Multi-Scale Fabrication of Multifunctional and Extreme Environment Adaptable Soft Devices (Adv Mater, Feb-26)
Electrothermally Controlled 3D-Printed Shape Memory Polymers for Near-Ambient Temperature Soft Robotic Applications (Adv Int Sys, Feb-26)
Holographic Whole-Object Photopolymerization Preserving Director Alignment in Liquid Crystalline Actuators (Adv Mater, Mar-26)
LCD 3D printing of conductive photo-nanocomposite for a piezoresistive component integrated with wearable rings (Sens Actuators A, Apr-26)
Toughing 3D-Printable Elastomers Through End-Constraint Shifted Deformation (Adv Func Mater, Feb-26)
Tailoring Vacuum Artificial Muscles: A Multi-Parametric FEA-Driven Optimization and Monolithic Fabrication (IEEE RA-L, Jan-26)
Spatially Tailorable Liquid Crystalline Elastomer Alignment During Digital Light Process 3D Printing (Adv Func Mater, Jan-26)
4D printing through vat photopolymerization of two-stage UV-curable liquid crystal elastomers (Nature Commun, Jan-26)
Solvent-free 3D printing of silicone elastomers by digital light processing using an oligosiloxanyl substituted bis(acyl)phosphane oxide as photoinitiator (Mater Adv, Mar-26)
Enabling Metal-Based Soft Robotics Through Investment Casting (Adv Int Sys, Mar-26)
Programmable Magnetization of Small-Scale Soft Kirigami Pads via Interlayer Stress for Light Modulation (Adv Func Mater, Jan-26)
Radical-Mediated, Substrate-Independent Fabrication of Hybrid Solid-Hydrogel Materials With Tunable Crosslinking: An Initiator- and Crosslinker-Free Approach (Adv Sci, Jan-26)
Signal Modulation of a 3D Printer for Direct Laser Patterning of Durable and Reusable Copper Electrodes (Adv Eng Mater, Mar-26)
Robotic conformal 4D printing of liquid crystal elastomers (Science Advances, Feb-26)
Branch-scalable universal miniature pneumatic system with programmable positive and negative pressure for soft robots (Sens Actuators A, Apr-26)
Fluidic Control of Untethered Underwater Soft Robots (IEEE RA-L, Jan-26)

Locomotion, Swimming & Flying

13 entries
A Soft Amphibious Turtle Robot with Flexibility and Omnidirectional Motion Ability Actuated by Multiple Bionic Muscles (SOFT ROBOTICS, SEP-25)
Light-driven lattice soft microrobot with multimodal locomotion (NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, AUG-25)
SPARC: A Soft, Proprioceptive, Agile Robot for 3D Climbing and Exploration with Precise Trajectory Following (ADVANCED SCIENCE, SEP-25)
Aquatic Topological Liquid Crystal Gel Kirigami (ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, SEP-25)
Crawling Soft Robotic Locomotion via Asymmetric Temperature Distribution on Paper-Based Electrodes (ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, JUL-25)
A Novel Piezoelectric-Driven and Sensing Soft Robot (ADVANCED MATERIALS TECHNOLOGIES, AUG-25)
A forward-engineered, muscle-driven soft robotic swimmer (SCIENCE ADVANCES, JUL-25)
Electronics-Free 3D-Printed Soft Swimming Robot With Pneumatic Oscillating Control for Efficient Undulating Locomotion (IEEE RA-L, AUG-25)
Simultaneous Locomotion with Stiffness Perception of an Earthworm-Like Robot in a Soft Tubular Environment (SOFT ROBOTICS, JUL-25)
Bi-Stable Thin Soft Robot for in-Plane Locomotion in Narrow Space (IEEE RA-L, JUL-25)
Architected Elastomers as Load Bearing Actuators for Untethered Soft Robot Walking (ADVANCED MATERIALS TECHNOLOGIES, JUL-25)
Dual Actuator Wave-Like Navigator: An Untethered Soft Crawling Robot for Multisurface Locomotion (ADVANCED INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS, SEP-25)
Maneuverable Multilegged Locomotion through Anisotropically Arranged Soft Backbones in a Single-Actuator Modular Miniature Robot (Adv Int Sys, Jan-26)

Manipulation & Grasping 

10 entries
Origami exoskeletons for enhanced soft robotic manipulation (SCIENCE ADVANCES, JUL-25)
Fin-A-Rays: Expanding Soft Gripper Compliance via Discrete Arrays of Flexible Structures (SOFT ROBOTICS, SEP-25)
Shape-Memory Alloy Torsion Strips for Soft Robotic Manipulation and Morphing (ADVANCED INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS, SEP-25)
Contact Detection and Manipulation With a Shape-Memory Alloy Based Soft Gripper (IEEE RA-L, JUL-25)
A Dual-Adhesion-Enhanced Soft Gripper With Microwedge Adhesives and SMA-Driven Microspines (IEEE RA-L, SEP-25)
Tactile Sensor-Based Estimation of Grasp Force and Contact State With Soft Fingers (IEEE RA-L, JUL-25)
Bioinspired Vacuum Generation via Pressure-to-Vacuum Conversion for Manipulating all Phases of Matter (SOFT ROBOTICS, SEP-25)
Tactile Object Recognition With Recurrent Neural Networks Through a Perceptive Soft Gripper (IEEE RA-L, JUL-25)
Dual Arm Steering of Flexible Linear Objects in 2-D and 3-D Environments Using Euler’s Elastica Solutions (IEEE RA-L, AUG-25)
Estimating Deformable-Rigid Contact Interactions for a Deformable Tool via Learning and Model-Based Optimization (IEEE RA-L, JUL-25)

Biomimicry & Bioinspiration

11 entries
MELEGROS: Monolithic Elephant-Inspired Gripper with Optical Sensors (Adv Sci, Apr-26)
A Neuromorphic Incipient Slip Detection System Using Papillae Morphology (IEEE RA-L, Mar-26)
Bioinspired Programmable Biaxial Rolling Gel Sheets for Complex 3D Morphing (Adv Mater, Mar-26)
A highly sensitive multi-DOF soft bionic finger using clams-inspired rigid-soft hybrid joints (Sens Actuators A, Apr-26)
Bioinspired Sensory Transduction for Magnetic Profile Recognition and Encryption (Adv Mater, Mar-26)
Dynamic Supramolecular Polyurethane Elastomers Enabling Bioinspired Strain-Adaptive Stiffening to Resolve the Softness-Strength Paradox (Adv Sci, Mar-26)
Bioinspired Design of a Large-Span Friction-Switching Prototype Driven Synergistically by Adaptive Surface Hydration and Mechanical Strengthening (Adv Func Mater, Jan-26)
A Soft-Robotic Biomimetic Benchtop Model for Esophageal Motility Simulation. (Nature Commun, )
Nature-Inspired Magnetic Cilia for Detection and Early Intervention of Vascular Stenosis (Adv Mater, Apr-26)
A bionic robotic trunk with tensegrity-enabled elephant-comparable stiffness variability for assisted daily living (Nature Commun, Mar-26)
A Neuromorphic Incipient Slip Detection System Using Papillae Morphology (IEEE RA-L, Mar-26)

Soft Robot Applications

19 entries
Accounting for the Interaction Between a Dummy Finger and Joint Modular Soft Actuators for Multi-Joint Support Using a Novel FEM-Based Approach (IEEE RA-L, Mar-26)
Intelligent Soft Opto-Magnetic Robot for Minimally Invasive Interventional Therapy (Adv Sci, Mar-26)
Sensor fusion of touch & vision in soft manipulators for fruit picking. (Nature Commun, )
Transport and Delivery of Objects With a Soft Everting Robot (IEEE RA-L, Mar-26)
Human internal actuators using bending and twisting deformation of a soft heat storage material driven by ultrasonic heating of shape memory alloy wires (Sens Actuators A, Apr-26)
High-Tolerance Soft-Rigid Gripper for Low-Damage Robotic Strawberry Harvesting (IEEE RA-L, Jan-26)
Ionic-Electronic Hydrogel-Liquid Metal Composite Bilayer with Tissue-Adaptive and Adhesive Properties for Closed-Loop Neuroprosthetic System (Adv Func Mater, Apr-26)
Combining tethered and untethered magnetic robots via a magnetically triggerable latch for target payload delivery and retrieval (Science Advances, Jan-26)
Continuum Robot Segments With High Output Stiffness via Diagonal Backbones (IEEE RA-L, Jan-26)
DexFruit: Dexterous Manipulation and Gaussian Splatting Inspection of Fruit (IEEE RA-L, Feb-26)
A Novel Robotic Prototype Simulating Oral and Pharyngeal Swallowing With Passive Epiglottis Actuation (IEEE RA-L, Mar-26)
Self-Wearing Adaptive Garments via Soft Robotic Unfurling (IEEE RA-L, Jan-26)
A Soft Robotic Model for Simulating Heart Valve Disease and Cardiac Interventions (Adv Sci, Feb-26)
Soft Artificial Ciliary Brush with Integrated Haptic Feedback for Efficient Airway Mucus Cleaning (Adv Int Sys, Jan-26)
Robotic-assisted tracking control of magnetoactive soft continuum robots in magnetic gradients (Smart Mater Struct, Jan-26)
Physiologically Adaptive Soft Millirobot for Atraumatic Endovascular Therapy (Adv Func Mater, Feb-26)
OriGrasp: A Multifunctional Origami-Inspired Instrument for Delicate Manipulation in Abdominal Surgery (Adv Int Sys, Feb-26)
Deformation Driven Suction Cups: A Mechanics-Based Approach to Wearable Electronics (Adv Sci, Apr-26)
Portable hip exoskeleton improves walking economy for stroke survivors (Nature Commun, Feb-26)

Theory: Learning, Modeling, & Control 

16 entries
Neural Linear Oscillator Networks and Their Application to Soft Robots Model Learning and Control (IEEE RA-L, Mar-26)
Adaptive Robust Control for Rotation Tracking of a Soft Rotary Actuator With Hysteresis Compensation (IEEE RA-L, Feb-26)
Model-Free Control of a Soft-Rigid Hybrid Robot for Laser-Assisted Surgery (IEEE RA-L, Jan-26)
AI-based hybrid neural network with PID control system for deflection control of IPMC soft actuators in robotic applications (Smart Mater Struct, Feb-26)
AFT: Appearance-Based Feature Tracking for Markerless and Training-Free Shape Reconstruction of Soft Robots (IEEE RA-L, Feb-26)
Routing Optimization of Cable-Driven Octopus-Inspired Manipulators With Minimal Actuation via Genetic Algorithm and Finite Element Method (Adv Int Sys, Mar-26)
Deep learning-based object identification for grasping force control of a robotic soft end effector (Robot Auton Syst, May-26)
Data-driven bilinear model predictive tracking control of soft manipulators with unmodeled dynamics and unknown disturbances compensation (Robot Auton Syst, Jun-26)
Grasp Independent Indirect Tool Force Estimation Using Vision-Based Tactile Sensors (IEEE RA-L, Jan-26)
TacEva: A Performance Evaluation Framework for Vision-Based Tactile Sensors (Adv Int Sys, Feb-26)
Magnetization strategy and deformation response of thin-sheet helical morphology transformation (Smart Mater Struct, Jan-26)
Automated High-Precision Control of Twisted and Coiled Polymers Under Parameter Variability (IEEE RA-L, Mar-26)
A Topology Optimization Framework for the Inverse Design of Nonlinear Mechanical Metamaterials (Adv Eng Mater, Mar-26)
A Reinforcement Learning Based FEM Solver for Accelerating Contact-Influenced Simulation of Continuum Robots (IEEE RA-L, Feb-26)
Data-Driven Modeling of Forces Exerted by Pneumatic Actuators for a Pediatric Exosuit (Adv Int Sys, Mar-26)
Energy-Based Kinematic Analysis on Magnetic Soft Continuum Robot With Asymmetric Magnetization (IEEE RA-L, Feb-26)

Embodied Intelligence & Morphological Computation

6 entries
A general soft robotic controller inspired by neuronal structural and plastic synapses that adapts to diverse arms, tasks, and perturbations (Science Advances, Jan-26)
Magnetic coupling transforms random snapping into ordered sequences in soft metamaterials (Science Advances, Mar-26)
Worm-Inspired Soft Robots With Modular Outfit-Changing for Intelligent Multienvironment Adaptation (Adv Int Sys, Feb-26)
Adaptive multimodal swimming gaits in a reconfigurable modular soft robotic fish (Science Advances, Jan-26)
Programmable Multifunctional Bistable Structures for Energy Transfer and Dissipation (Adv Sci, Mar-26)
Coupling programmable shape morphing and solvent-fueled propulsion in a soft bicontinuous composite. (Nature Commun, Mar-26)