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From the nano-scale to the macro-scale, biological tissue is spatially heterogeneous. Even when tissue behavior is well understood, the exact subject specific spatial distribution of material properties is often unknown. And, when…

Tissues and Organs · Quantitative Biology 2020-11-02 Emma Lejeune , Bill Zhao

Soft robots are notoriously hard to control. This is partly due to the scarcity of models able to capture their complex continuum mechanics, resulting in a lack of control methodologies that take full advantage of body compliance. Currently…

Robotics · Computer Science 2020-09-18 Noel Naughton , Jiarui Sun , Arman Tekinalp , Girish Chowdhary , Mattia Gazzola

The complex physical properties of highly deformable materials such as clothes pose significant challenges fanipulation systems. We present a novel visual feedback dictionary-based method for manipulating defoor autonomous robotic mrmable…

Robotics · Computer Science 2019-01-18 Biao Jia , Zhe Hu , Jia Pan , Dinesh Manocha

There is a growing mechanics literature concerning the macroscopic properties of mechanism-based mechanical metamaterials. This amounts mathematically to a homogenization problem involving nonlinear elasticity. A key goal is to identify the…

Analysis of PDEs · Mathematics 2025-11-10 Xuenan Li , Robert V. Kohn

Biological systems are very robust to morphological damage, but artificial systems (robots) are currently not. In this paper we present a system based on neural cellular automata, in which locomoting robots are evolved and then given the…

Neural and Evolutionary Computing · Computer Science 2022-06-15 Kazuya Horibe , Kathryn Walker , Rasmus Berg Palm , Shyam Sudhakaran , Sebastian Risi

Soft robots manufactured with flexible materials can be highly compliant and adaptive to their surroundings, which facilitates their application in areas such as dexterous manipulation and environmental exploration. This paper aims at…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2025-07-01 Renjie Ma , Ziyao Qu , Zhijian Hu , Dong Zhao , Marios M. Polycarpou

Flexible object manipulation of paper and cloth is a major research challenge in robot manipulation. Although there have been efforts to develop hardware that enables specific actions and to realize a single action of paper folding using…

Robotics · Computer Science 2024-11-14 Yukina Iwata , Shun Hasegawa , Kento Kawaharazuka , Kei Okada , Masayuki Inaba

We provide a perspective on soft metamaterials and biomatter with a special emphasis on future research directions at the interface between material intelligence and adaptation.

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2025-07-15 Colin Scheibner , Michel Fruchart , Vincenzo Vitelli

Structures with artificial mechanical properties, often called mechanical metamaterials, exhibit divergent yet tunable performance. Various types of mechanical metamaterials have been proposed, which harness light or magnetic interactions,…

Soft robots can safely interact with environments because of their mechanical compliance. Self-collision is also employed in the modern design of soft robots to enhance their performance during different tasks. However, developing an…

Robotics · Computer Science 2022-08-02 Guoxin Fang , Yingjun Tian , Andrew Weightman , Charlie C. L. Wang

Common disabilities like stroke and spinal cord injuries may cause loss of motor function in hands. They can be treated with robot assisted rehabilitation techniques, like continuously opening and closing the hand with help of a robot, in a…

Robotics · Computer Science 2022-12-15 Cem Suulker , Sophie Skach , Kaspar Althoefer

Soft robots have struggled to support large forces and moments while also supporting their own weight against gravity. This limits their ability to reach certain configurations necessary for tasks such as inspection and pushing objects up.…

Robotics · Computer Science 2025-01-20 Ian Good , Srivatsan Balaji , David Oh , Sawyer Thomas , Jeffrey I. Lipton

The deformable and continuum nature of soft robots promises versatility and adaptability. However, control of modular, multi-limbed soft robots for terrestrial locomotion is challenging due to the complex robot structure, actuator mechanics…

Robotics · Computer Science 2016-02-05 Vishesh Vikas , Piyush Grover , Barry Trimmer

Dynamic shape-morphing soft materials systems are ubiquitous in living organisms; they are also of rapidly increasing relevance to emerging technologies in soft machines, flexible electronics, and smart medicines. Soft matter equipped with…

Soft pneumatic actuators are widely used in soft robotics because they can produce large motions while remaining compliant enough to interact safely with objects, environments, and the human body. However, their performance is not solely…

Robotics · Computer Science 2026-05-26 Mohammed Abboodi

Soft robotics focuses on designing robots with highly deformable materials, allowing them to adapt and operate safely and reliably in unstructured and variable environments. While soft robots offer increased compliance over rigid body…

Robotics · Computer Science 2024-08-20 Zach J. Patterson , Emily Sologuren , Cosimo Della Santina , Daniela Rus

Soft robots, particularly magnetic soft robots, require specialized simulation tools to accurately model their deformation under external magnetic fields. However, existing platforms often lack dedicated support for magnetic materials,…

Tunable metasurfaces enable active and on-demand control over optical wavefronts through reconfigurable scattering of resonant nanostructures. Here, we present novel insights inspired by mechanical metamaterials to achieve giant tunability…

Optics · Physics 2025-10-31 Freek van Gorp , Wenfeng Liu , Corentin Coulais , Jorik van de Groep

Magnetic response soft robot realizes programmable shape regulation with the help of magnetic field and produces various actions. The shape control of magnetic soft robot is based on the magnetic anisotropy caused by the orderly…

Robotics · Computer Science 2021-11-08 Ran Zhao , Hanchen Yao , Houde Dai

Mechanical metamaterials owe their extraordinary properties and functionalities to their micro-/nanoscale design of which shape, including both geometry and topology, is perhaps the most important aspect. 4D printing enables programmed,…

Soft Condensed Matter · Physics 2021-05-25 Amir A. Zadpoor