A jelly-like soft robot achieves controlled movement through electric field induced switching inside smart gel materials, opening new paths for medical and exploration robotics.
As robotics increasingly moves beyond factories into healthcare, exploration, and disaster As robotics increasingly moves beyond factories into healthcare, exploration, and disaster response, conventional machines face a fundamental limitation. Rigid motors, gears, and joints struggle in soft, confined, or unpredictable environments where adaptability and gentle interaction are essential. Researchers are now turning to soft robotics to bridge this gap, aiming to build machines that move more like living tissue than industrial equipment.
Scientists from the University of Bristol and Queen Mary University of London have unveiled a jelly-like soft robot that bends, twists, and moves in response to external electric fields. Rather than relying on mechanical actuators, the robot uses its own body as the movement mechanism, enabling smooth and continuous shape changes. The research, published in Advanced Materials, demonstrates how electric fields alone can drive controlled motion in soft robotic systems.
The robot is built from a newly developed smart composite called electro morphing gel. Embedded with ultra lightweight electrodes, the material reacts instantly when exposed to surrounding electric fields. These fields trigger localized stretching and contraction within the gel, producing bending, twisting, and swinging motions. In demonstrations, a miniature humanoid gymnast made from the material was shown moving across overhead surfaces by precisely adjusting the external electric field, without any onboard motors or rigid structures.
Key features of the robot include:
- Movement driven entirely by external electric fields
- No motors, gears, or rigid joints
- Electro morphing gel material with ultra lightweight electrodes
- Stable performance over more than 10,000 actuation cycles
- Ability to navigate soft, fragile, or confined environments
Ciqun Xu, researcher at the University of Bristol, says, “Think of the electro morphing gel robot and future soft robots as Swiss Army knives. Their adaptability can provide a diverse range of tools for situations where traditional robots may not be suitable.”
With potential applications ranging from minimally invasive medical procedures and targeted drug delivery to environmental exploration and search and rescue missions, electric field driven soft robots could redefine how machines interact with complex real world environments. The work marks a significant step toward robots that move not like machines, but like living systems.
