Hardware

Soft Robot

A soft robot is a robot whose body is made substantially of compliant materials — silicone elastomers, fabrics, or fluid-driven chambers — deforming continuously rather than articulating through discrete rigid joints. Actuation is commonly pneumatic or hydraulic, with cable-driven and shape-memory-alloy variants, and modeling relies on continuum mechanics rather than rigid body kinematics. The field draws heavily on biological inspiration such as octopus arms and elephant trunks.

Why it matters for physical AI

Intrinsic compliance offers safety around humans and adaptability to unstructured contact, while the modeling difficulty of continuum bodies makes soft systems a natural target for learned control.