Soft Robotics Materials
Compliant materials for soft actuators and robots.
Omnidirectional Shape Proprioception for Untethered Shape Memory Alloy‐Driven Soft Robotic Arms
This research presents a modular soft robotic arm using shape memory alloys for improved proprioception and adaptability in unstructured environments.
A Versatile‐Designable Framework for Active and Programmable Shape‐Morphing Soft Matter Systems: From Inverse Design to Closed‐Loop Control
This research presents a framework for active and programmable shape-morphing soft matter systems, enhancing soft robotics capabilities.
FUTURE OF 4D PRINTING IN SOFT ROBOTICS AND INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION
A 2015–2025 review synthesizes how 4D printing with stimulus-responsive materials enables programmable, adaptive soft robotics and intelligent automation, while highlighting remaining barriers to translation.
An Autonomous Subgram SMA-Based Swimmer
Swima is a bioinspired subgram microswimmer using onboard-powered SMA-wire actuators and computation to achieve autonomous swimming with measured speed, turning, and trajectory tracking.
Scientists discover a strange property in rice and turn it into a smart material
A rice-derived, pressure-rate-dependent effect was used to engineer a material that automatically adapts stiffness to distinguish gentle motion from sudden impacts.
Recent progress in 4D printing: materials, methods and applications
This review synthesizes how 4D printing couples additive methods with stimulus-responsive materials—especially shape-memory polymers—to achieve programmed, time-dependent shape and property changes, while noting reliability and scalability
4D Printing in Biomedical Implants and Functional Healthcare Devices
A review of biomedical 4D printing that links stimuli-responsive material platforms to programmed, time-dependent actuation for implants, drug delivery, and adaptive wearables.
Light-activated gel could impact wearables, soft robotics, and more
A light-activated, biocompatible soft gel is reported to dramatically change its conductivity, supporting ionotronics-style interfaces for wearables and soft robotics.
Additively manufactured Shape Memory Alloy Hybrid Composites with a polymer matrix featuring a re-entrant honeycomb structure
A fully additive SLA+TFP route fabricates SMA hybrid composites with a re-entrant honeycomb polymer structure, enabling geometry-tuned, thermally activated out-of-plane bending with improved reproducibility via automated SMA placement.
Reprogrammable metamaterial robot with embodied versatile computation and mechanical intelligence
A reprogrammable metamaterial robot is presented as combining versatile computation with mechanical intelligence.
Single-material 4D-printed shape-morphing structures via spatially patterned strain trapping
A single-step, single-material 4D printing approach uses spatially patterned strain trapping to program one-way, spatially controlled shape morphing without secondary post-programming.
3D printing on pre-stressed textiles: peel test evaluation of adhesion factors in 4D textiles
A factorial study identifies printing and pre-tension parameters that maximize peel-test adhesion between 3D-printed reinforcements and pre-stressed textile substrates in 4D textiles.
Design and Modeling of a Simple-Structured Continuously Variable Transmission Utilizing Shape Memory Alloy Superelasticity for Twisted String Actuator
A simple CVT for twisted string actuators is proposed using two superelastic SMA rods whose load-dependent deformation enables continuous transmission-ratio variation.
DiffeoMorph: Learning to Morph 3D Shapes Using Differentiable Agent-Based Simulations
DiffeoMorph is an end-to-end differentiable method that learns agent-based morphogenesis rules to transform minimally patterned starts into target 3D shapes using an invariant Zernike-based shape-matching loss.
Design, modelling and experimental validation of bipenniform shape memory alloy-based linear actuator integrable with hydraulic stroke amplification mechanism
A bio-inspired bipenniform SMA coil linear actuator is modelled and experimentally validated, achieving 257 N at 15 V and reduced drive mechanism weight and energy versus a stepper motor benchmark.
4D printed hydromorph biocomposites with shape change and force generation properties: progress towards structural actuation
4D-printed flax/PLA hydromorph biocomposites can be tuned to deliver water-driven shape change with blocked force and energy density comparable to wood, supporting structural actuation design.
Programmable Telescopic Soft Pneumatic Actuators for Deployable and Shape Morphing Soft Robots
Programmable Telescopic Soft Pneumatic Actuators (PTSPAs) use a parameterized geometry generator and systematic parameter exploration to enable deployable, shape-morphing soft robot locomotion in confined spaces.
Two‐Way Shape Memory Polymer Composite Gripper for Adaptive Robotic Applications
A cross-linked PCL/DCP two-way shape-memory polymer composite embedded in a low-stiffness elastomer matrix enables temperature-driven, repeatable gripper opening/closing without external actuation programming.
Force Characterization of Insect-Scale Aquatic Propulsion Based on Fluid-Structure Interaction
Insect-scale microrobotic swimmers with SMA-driven soft tails are force-characterized, yielding first instantaneous thrust measurements linked to fluid-structure interaction.
Vision-assisted 4D printing of a silicone gripper with integrated sensors and high energy density actuators
A vision-guided, one-shot DIW process embeds a strain sensor and coiled SMA actuator into a silicone gripper to enable closed-loop, energy-efficient 4D morphing for real tasks.
Rotary 4D Printing of Programmable Metamaterials on Sustainable 4D Mandrel
A rotary 4D printing workflow fabricates modular, multi-material programmable mechanical metamaterials on a shape-morphing mandrel, enabling programmable stiffness and multi-DOF shape recovery.
Quasi-static shape control of soft, morphing structures
A general quasi-static shape-control framework for soft morphing structures is developed, analyzing how large deformations and compliance affect equilibrium topology and stability, illustrated with a snap-through-prone Kirchhoff rod.
Hygromnemics: Programmable Material Memory Matter Actuators via Wet Pre‐Constraining
Hygromnemic actuators utilize humidity to store and program shape memory, enabling innovative soft robotic applications.
Physics-Informed Neural Networks for Programmable Origami Metamaterials with Controlled Deployment
A data-free physics-informed neural network enables inverse design of conical Kresling origami metamaterials with programmable multistable energy barriers and controlled, sequential deployment validated on prototypes.