Putting Sensors Where It Matters: MIT Researchers’ Algorithm Adds More Flex To Soft Robots

“Strength means resistance not to bending or to other deformations, but to actual breakage, however, the shape may have changed. In the unstiff, living world, putting pressure on a structure normally changes its shape. Push on an ear, and it happily gives. Take your hand away, and it springs back,” said the late Steven Vogel, biomechanics researcher, Duke University, in his article ‘Better Bent Than Broken’. Vogel argued that flexibility, not stiffness, was more in line with nature’s way. Built on the same concept, scientists are now moving away from metallic robots to more flexible forms, called soft robots -- made of highly compliant materials, including nanomaterials. Unlike conventional metallic robots that are more suited for assembly line work, soft robots can have more