This is a robotic leg, one currently in development by engineers at ETH Zurich and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems. However, it’s not using actuators, cogs or other conventional ...

Our muscles are nature’s actuators. The sinewy tissue is what generates the forces that make our bodies move. In recent years, engineers have used real muscle tissue to actuate “biohybrid robots” made ...

While 2026 has been an objectively terrible year for humans thus far, it’s turning out—for better or worse—to be a banner year for robots. (Robots that are not Tesla’s Optimus thingamajig, anyway.) ...

A dual cross-linked magnetic polymer solves the fundamental trade-off limiting soft artificial muscles, achieving unprecedented combinations of stretchability, force output, and shape-programming ...