The shape of biological structures, ranging from flower petals to the limbs or organs of animals, is often naturally best ...

Countless industrial tools and robots need to grip things, and because we humans learn to grip since infancy, we can easily underestimate how complex gripping actually is. If our grip is too rigid, we ...

Abstract: Artificial muscles have been developed for various input power sources. Among them, thermally driven actuators can be easily actuated at a low voltage without an additional device using the ...

As organisms develop from embryos, groups of cells migrate and reshape themselves to form all manner of complex tissues. There are no anatomical molds shaped like lungs, livers or other tissues for ...

Imagine a rubber band that turns into a steel cable on command. Now imagine it’s inside a robot. That’s the basic trick of a new artificial muscle built by researchers at the Ulsan National Institute ...

Scientists in the US have designed a carbon-fiber plastic composite that not only heals itself the way skin does, but also recovers its original shape under heat and outperforms steel in strength. The ...

Shien-Ming Wu School of Intelligent Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 511442, China Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Technique and Equipment for Macromolecular ...

Abstract: Robotic manipulators are used across various surgical tasks, including endoscopic and laparoscopic procedures. Operating in small and constrained spaces during these procedures requires the ...

A new class of polymer that is transparent and hard like plexiglass but also stretchy with adhesive, self-healing, shape-memory and electrically-conducting properties has been created. Dubbed ‘glassy ...

Sleep is important for all of us. If you deal with chronic pain, getting enough sleep may be especially important. Research has identified a catch-22 for people with chronic pain: Not getting enough ...

SINGAPORE - Taking inspiration from dried snail mucus and gecko feet, scientists in Singapore have developed a reusable adhesive that can adhere strongly to rough surfaces, unlike conventional ...

Polyurethanes and plastics have become ubiquitous in modern society, finding use in a wide variety of applications such as clothing, automobiles, and shoes. While these materials provide numerous ...