Pub Date : 2026-02-25DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.aef2586
Robin Murphy
Annalee Newitz's Automatic Noodle illustrates the challenges of robots operating a ghost kitchen.
Annalee Newitz的《自动面条》展示了机器人操作幽灵厨房的挑战。
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Guanqi Liang, Auke Jan Ijspeert, Mark Yim, Tin Lun Lam
Modular reconfigurable robot (MRR) systems have attracted growing attention because of their versatility and ability to operate across diverse domains. Research on MRR systems has made notable progress, evolving from laboratory settings to real-world applications. However, a gap remains in aligning MRR technologies with specific needs, and a comprehensive review of challenges in practical applications is still lacking. To address these issues, this Review adopts an application-oriented perspective. Focusing on locomotion, manipulation, and construction, it proposes a previously unreported perspective centered on real-world demands. The Review outlines these needs and identifies major challenges facing MRR systems, categorized into three areas: general hardware challenges, general software challenges, and application-specific challenges. This Review aims to inform the development of MRR systems from theory to practice through a demand-technology-application approach. By working backward from practical applications to technical requirements, it identifies technological gaps in specific use cases. It also surveys current research, highlighting strengths, limitations, and potential directions while emphasizing key challenges for future progress.
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Pub Date : 2026-02-25DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.adz1999
Guanqi Liang, Auke Jan Ijspeert, Mark Yim, Tin Lun Lam
Modular reconfigurable robot (MRR) systems have attracted growing attention because of their versatility and ability to operate across diverse domains. Research on MRR systems has made notable progress, evolving from laboratory settings to real-world applications. However, a gap remains in aligning MRR technologies with specific needs, and a comprehensive review of challenges in practical applications is still lacking. To address these issues, this Review adopts an application-oriented perspective. Focusing on locomotion, manipulation, and construction, it proposes a previously unreported perspective centered on real-world demands. The Review outlines these needs and identifies major challenges facing MRR systems, categorized into three areas: general hardware challenges, general software challenges, and application-specific challenges. This Review aims to inform the development of MRR systems from theory to practice through a demand-technology-application approach. By working backward from practical applications to technical requirements, it identifies technological gaps in specific use cases. It also surveys current research, highlighting strengths, limitations, and potential directions while emphasizing key challenges for future progress.
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Pub Date : 2026-02-25DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.aeg5538
Amos Matsiko
The HoLoArm drone has flexible arms for impact resistance and can recover from collisions and maintain flight stability.
HoLoArm无人机具有灵活的臂部，可以抵抗冲击，并可以从碰撞中恢复并保持飞行稳定性。
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Pub Date : 2026-02-18DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.ady9635
Junbo Peng, Jiangshan Zhuo, Hongcheng Qiu, Ofoq Normahmedov, Mengke Shi, Huifeng Dong, Lvting Wang, Shengchao Jiang, Jiang Zou, Guoying Gu, Tiefeng Li, Weifei Fu, Boyu Peng, Hanzhi Ma, Ye Shi
Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are promising artificial muscles featuring large actuation strains, high energy densities, and fast response speeds. However, their reliance on kilovolt-level driving voltages remains a substantial barrier to their application in untethered systems. Here, low-voltage and high-output DEAs (LVHO-DEAs) were developed by synthesizing an elastomer material—high–dielectric constant processable high-performance dielectric elastomer, with optimized stress-strain behavior and an improved dielectric constant—and by multilayering its thin films through a scalable dry-stacking process. The developed LVHO-DEAs achieved an energy density of 38.4 joules per kilogram and a power density of 452 watts per kilogram at a nominal electric field of 20 volts per micrometer without any prestretching or high-frequency resonance. Driven by LVHO-DEAs, untethered wearable devices and soft robots with different actuation mechanisms were fabricated, demonstrating effective operation at 200 volts. These findings bridge the gap between the theoretical promise of DEAs and their practical application in untethered soft systems by enabling them to serve as high-performance actuators at low driving voltages.
{"title":"Low-voltage and high-output dielectric elastomer actuators for untethered soft machines working at 200 volts","authors":"Junbo Peng, Jiangshan Zhuo, Hongcheng Qiu, Ofoq Normahmedov, Mengke Shi, Huifeng Dong, Lvting Wang, Shengchao Jiang, Jiang Zou, Guoying Gu, Tiefeng Li, Weifei Fu, Boyu Peng, Hanzhi Ma, Ye Shi","doi":"10.1126/scirobotics.ady9635","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.ady9635","url":null,"abstract":"Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are promising artificial muscles featuring large actuation strains, high energy densities, and fast response speeds. However, their reliance on kilovolt-level driving voltages remains a substantial barrier to their application in untethered systems. Here, low-voltage and high-output DEAs (LVHO-DEAs) were developed by synthesizing an elastomer material—high–dielectric constant processable high-performance dielectric elastomer, with optimized stress-strain behavior and an improved dielectric constant—and by multilayering its thin films through a scalable dry-stacking process. The developed LVHO-DEAs achieved an energy density of 38.4 joules per kilogram and a power density of 452 watts per kilogram at a nominal electric field of 20 volts per micrometer without any prestretching or high-frequency resonance. Driven by LVHO-DEAs, untethered wearable devices and soft robots with different actuation mechanisms were fabricated, demonstrating effective operation at 200 volts. These findings bridge the gap between the theoretical promise of DEAs and their practical application in untethered soft systems by enabling them to serve as high-performance actuators at low driving voltages.","PeriodicalId":56029,"journal":{"name":"Science Robotics","volume":"4 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":25.0,"publicationDate":"2026-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146210360","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fostering relationships between the disability and soft robotics communities will spark innovations that could benefit all.
促进残疾人和软机器人社区之间的关系将激发创新，使所有人受益。
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Junbo Peng, Jiangshan Zhuo, Hongcheng Qiu, Ofoq Normahmedov, Mengke Shi, Huifeng Dong, Lvting Wang, Shengchao Jiang, Jiang Zou, Guoying Gu, Tiefeng Li, Weifei Fu, Boyu Peng, Hanzhi Ma, Ye Shi
Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are promising artificial muscles featuring large actuation strains, high energy densities, and fast response speeds. However, their reliance on kilovolt-level driving voltages remains a substantial barrier to their application in untethered systems. Here, low-voltage and high-output DEAs (LVHO-DEAs) were developed by synthesizing an elastomer material—high–dielectric constant processable high-performance dielectric elastomer, with optimized stress-strain behavior and an improved dielectric constant—and by multilayering its thin films through a scalable dry-stacking process. The developed LVHO-DEAs achieved an energy density of 38.4 joules per kilogram and a power density of 452 watts per kilogram at a nominal electric field of 20 volts per micrometer without any prestretching or high-frequency resonance. Driven by LVHO-DEAs, untethered wearable devices and soft robots with different actuation mechanisms were fabricated, demonstrating effective operation at 200 volts. These findings bridge the gap between the theoretical promise of DEAs and their practical application in untethered soft systems by enabling them to serve as high-performance actuators at low driving voltages.
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Pub Date : 2026-02-18DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.aee0269
Ronald H Heisser, Ritu Raman, Robert F Shepherd
Fostering relationships between the disability and soft robotics communities will spark innovations that could benefit all.
促进残疾人和软机器人社区之间的关系将激发创新，使所有人受益。
{"title":"The codevelopment of soft robotics and assistive technology.","authors":"Ronald H Heisser, Ritu Raman, Robert F Shepherd","doi":"10.1126/scirobotics.aee0269","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.aee0269","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Fostering relationships between the disability and soft robotics communities will spark innovations that could benefit all.</p>","PeriodicalId":56029,"journal":{"name":"Science Robotics","volume":"11 111","pages":"eaee0269"},"PeriodicalIF":27.5,"publicationDate":"2026-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146221994","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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