Soon, a flexible octopus-like robot could be completely free of wires or internal electronics. Engineers at Rice University have unveiled a new soft robotic arm controlled by laser beams.

While we typically think of robots as being made from hard, rigid materials, soft robotics aims to build robotic devices out of more flexible materials that mimic properties found in living organisms.

A soft patch on the arm could soon let you steer robots with simple hand movements, even while your whole body is in motion.

Through the four-year project, robotics engineering researchers Cagdas Onal, Berk Calli, and Loris Fichera from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, Massachusetts, are developing a ...

Elizabeth Blackert is a Rice University doctoral alumna who is the first author on a study published in Advanced Intelligent Systems. HOUSTON – (June 9, 2025) – Researchers at Rice University have ...

A team of scientists at Rice University has developed a soft robotic arm that is moved remotely by laser beams. The arm does not require any wiring or control electronics. The soft material of the ...

Researchers have developed a soft robotic arm capable of performing complex tasks when guided and powered remotely by laser beams. Elizabeth Blackert, a Rice University doctoral alumna who is the ...

So-called soft robotic arms are helping to change health care — squeezing into hard-to-reach places in the human body. What’s new: A new study on the technology finds that although the soft-arm robots ...

Prosthetic hands have long struggled to replicate the dexterity and functionality of natural hands, often limiting users to a single grasp function at a time. This limitation has made everyday tasks, ...

A team of Chinese postgraduates have created an octopus-inspired soft robotic arm that can be used to heal injuries. The students, from Beijing-based Beihang University, exhibited their prototype ...

As much as I love the independence of living by myself, it comes with a heavy price of cleaning. No one warns you how much time you’ll spend scrubbing burnt pans, greasy counters, or mystery stains ...

Researchers at Rice University have developed a soft robotic arm capable of performing complex tasks such as navigating around an obstacle or hitting a ball, guided and powered remotely by laser beams ...