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New soft robots roll like tires, spin like tops and orbit like moons

soft robotics

illustration shows an aerial tramcar next to a soft robot that can also ascend and descend along a track

May 5, 2025

High-Wire Act: Soft Robot Can Carry Cargo Up and Down Steep Aerial Wires

Researchers have created a light-powered soft robot that can carry loads through the air along established tracks, similar to cable cars or aerial trams.
Image of four-step process of capturing microplastics from water.

Mar 27, 2025

New Water Microcleaners Self-Disperse, Capture Microplastics and Float Up for Removal

Proof-of-concept work uses unique, safe particles to remove microplastics in a single cycle.
A underwater photograph of a manta ray swimming in the ocean in French Polynesia.

Dec 16, 2024

The world’s fastest swimming robot

Drawing inspiration from manta rays, NC State researchers have engineered a soft robot that can swim even faster than its record-breaking predecessor.
left image is titled support and shows a black polymer sheet lifting four stacked petri dishes that are loaded with spheres. right image is title manipulates and shows a black polymer sheet undulating in a way that rotates the multicolored spheres in a petri dish in a counterclockwise direction

Dec 9, 2024

Magnetically controlled kirigami surfaces move objects: no grasping needed

The new technology is useful for lifting and moving items that cannot be easily grasped, such as fragile objects, gels or liquids.
time-lapse image from a video shows a manta-shaped soft robot swimming over and under obstacles in a glass tank filled with water

Dec 5, 2024

Manta rays inspire the fastest swimming soft robot yet

A team of researchers has drawn inspiration from manta rays and beaten its own record for the fastest swimming soft robot.
time lapsed photo shows a soft robot tendril lowering, wrapping around a tube, and lifting it into the air

Jun 12, 2024

3D-printed mini-actuators can move small soft robots, lock them into new shapes

The miniature soft hydraulic actuators can control the deformation and motion of soft robots that are less than a millimeter thick.
A soft robot and a caterpillar on the branch of a green plant. The caterpillar is on the bottom of the branch and the soft robot is on the top or opposite side of the branch.

May 16, 2024

Caterbot? Robotapillar? It crawls with ease through loops and bends

Engineers at Princeton and North Carolina State University have combined ancient paper folding and modern materials science to create a soft robot that bends and twists through mazes with ease.
Illustration of caterpillar-like soft robot.

Jan 19, 2024

MAE postdoc wins first-place prize in annual research image contest

Shuang Wu, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE), won a first-place prize in the graphics and data visualization category of NC State’s annual Envisioning Research contest. His illustration, “Caterpillar Inspired Soft Crawling Robot,” depicts a caterpillar-like soft robot that can move forward, backward and dip under narrow spaces. It…
Black-and-white video still shows a ringlike object in a square space that has one gap for an entrance. A bright white line shows the path that the object has taken in tracing the contours of the space.

Jan 9, 2024

New soft robots roll like tires, spin like tops and orbit like moons

The device, which operates without human or computer control, holds promise for developing technologies that can be used to navigate unknown environments.