Soft robots and the origins of life

ORIGINAL: The Economist

George Whitesides, head of the Whitesides Research Group at Harvard University, builds robots that move like octopuses and investigates the chemical beginnings of life

ORIGINAL: Science Video Portal
Soft Machines Get Camouflaged

S. A. Morin et al.

[Read the article] 

Many creatures utilize ornate colors and patterns as a means of camouflaging and in some cases standing out against their environments—but this adaptive camouflage has rarely been mimicked in synthetic systems. Through the use of circulating colored fluids and motion-inducing pneumatic pressurization, Morin et al. demonstrate variable camouflage and display in soft, flexible, mobile machines.

Chemiluminescent soft robotics.