<p>As we open Volume 8, it is worth reflecting on how the work published in Advanced Intelligent Systems (AISY) throughout 2025 has shaped the field and set the trajectory for 2026. Our 2025 portfolio evidences a clear maturation of intelligent systems toward embodiment, energy and computing efficiency, and application readiness across scales, from ingestible micro-robots to intelligent wearables and compliant space robotics.</p><p>We’ve observed how a system's intelligence now comes not only from its algorithms but also from its physical design; its materials, structure, and adaptable mechanics play an increasingly important part.</p><p>In a landmark perspective which highlights this shift in embodied intelligence from concept to practice, Kortman et al. formalize intelligence in soft robots across three axes, adaptive shape, adaptive functionality, and adaptive mechanics, and advocate “mechanical intelligence” that harnesses environmental interactions rather than idealizing them away.</p><p>A review by Rahimi Nohooji and Voos places compliant robotics on a similarly rigorous footing for use in space, cataloging soft, hyper-redundant, origami-inspired, and reconfigurable systems for on-orbit servicing and planetary exploration. The paper drills into space-specific constraints, namely, radiation, vacuum, and thermal extremes, and articulates design and control implications for compliant systems that are still dependable under those conditions.</p><p>At the nexus of biophysics and intelligent actuation, AISY's 2025 papers showed strong momentum in miniaturized micro-robotics tailored for biocompatible actuation in real media rather than idealized fluids.</p><p>We saw chemical-powered artificial cilia, and low-voltage electropermanent magnetic muscles that bring compact, energy-efficient actuation to wearables and untethered robots. In medical micro-robotics, PLGA micro-robots engineered for enhanced magnetic guidance and controlled biodegradation illustrate how anisotropic geometry and material choices translate into locomotion in viscous biological environments, a key requirement for targeted delivery.</p><p>Complementary work on reconfigurable microfluidics enabled by magnetic miniature robots points to agile “lab-on-robot” architectures, where channels and tasks are physically programmable to match diagnostic needs.</p><p>Together, these studies emphasize functional efficiency and biocompatibility as prerequisites for clinical translation.</p><p>In computational pathology, autofluorescence imaging paired with virtual histological staining of human prostate sections points toward faster, less invasive diagnostics that complement conventional workflows and represent a step forward in human-centric systems for greater patient comfort. Similarly, the screw-based ingestible capsule introduced by Sinawang et al. enables the active extraction of viscous biological fluids such as mucus, overcoming the diffusion limits that stymie passive designs.</p><p
{"title":"Intelligent Systems in 2025: Embodiment, Efficiency, and Real-World Readiness","authors":"","doi":"10.1002/aisy.70297","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/aisy.70297","url":null,"abstract":"<p>As we open Volume 8, it is worth reflecting on how the work published in Advanced Intelligent Systems (AISY) throughout 2025 has shaped the field and set the trajectory for 2026. Our 2025 portfolio evidences a clear maturation of intelligent systems toward embodiment, energy and computing efficiency, and application readiness across scales, from ingestible micro-robots to intelligent wearables and compliant space robotics.</p><p>We’ve observed how a system's intelligence now comes not only from its algorithms but also from its physical design; its materials, structure, and adaptable mechanics play an increasingly important part.</p><p>In a landmark perspective which highlights this shift in embodied intelligence from concept to practice, Kortman et al. formalize intelligence in soft robots across three axes, adaptive shape, adaptive functionality, and adaptive mechanics, and advocate “mechanical intelligence” that harnesses environmental interactions rather than idealizing them away.</p><p>A review by Rahimi Nohooji and Voos places compliant robotics on a similarly rigorous footing for use in space, cataloging soft, hyper-redundant, origami-inspired, and reconfigurable systems for on-orbit servicing and planetary exploration. The paper drills into space-specific constraints, namely, radiation, vacuum, and thermal extremes, and articulates design and control implications for compliant systems that are still dependable under those conditions.</p><p>At the nexus of biophysics and intelligent actuation, AISY's 2025 papers showed strong momentum in miniaturized micro-robotics tailored for biocompatible actuation in real media rather than idealized fluids.</p><p>We saw chemical-powered artificial cilia, and low-voltage electropermanent magnetic muscles that bring compact, energy-efficient actuation to wearables and untethered robots. In medical micro-robotics, PLGA micro-robots engineered for enhanced magnetic guidance and controlled biodegradation illustrate how anisotropic geometry and material choices translate into locomotion in viscous biological environments, a key requirement for targeted delivery.</p><p>Complementary work on reconfigurable microfluidics enabled by magnetic miniature robots points to agile “lab-on-robot” architectures, where channels and tasks are physically programmable to match diagnostic needs.</p><p>Together, these studies emphasize functional efficiency and biocompatibility as prerequisites for clinical translation.</p><p>In computational pathology, autofluorescence imaging paired with virtual histological staining of human prostate sections points toward faster, less invasive diagnostics that complement conventional workflows and represent a step forward in human-centric systems for greater patient comfort. Similarly, the screw-based ingestible capsule introduced by Sinawang et al. enables the active extraction of viscous biological fluids such as mucus, overcoming the diffusion limits that stymie passive designs.</p><p","PeriodicalId":93858,"journal":{"name":"Advanced intelligent systems (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany)","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/aisy.70297","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146027582","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}