What if a robot could be squishy? Soft, flexible robots could be useful for a wide variety of applications, including artificial muscles and wearable devices—or really any application where a robot must be especially delicate.
This is what has fueled development of “soft actuators” that can flex like a bicep and have a fine-tuned sense of touch as in the human hand. Like your stereotypical robot, soft actuators convert energy—such as electricity, heat, or light—into mechanical motion, but they look nothing like the metal and wire constructs that the word “robot” most often evokes.
