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Research·Harvard SEAS / Advanced Materials / IEEE Spectrum·1 min read

Harvard Develops 3D Printing Method for Soft Robots With Built-In Shape-Morphing Channels

Researchers at Harvard's School of Engineering published a method in Advanced Materials for 3D printing soft robotic devices with precisely placed hollow channels that bend and deform in predetermined ways when filled with air. The technique, called rotational multimaterial 3D printing, extrudes two materials from a single nozzle — a polyurethane shell and a dissolvable inner channel — eliminating the need for traditional molds and casting. The team demonstrated a five-digit gripper with bendable knuckles and a flower pattern printed in one continuous path. The approach could accelerate production of soft robots for surgical assistance, home caregiving, and safe human-robot interaction — areas where rigid robots pose injury risks.

HarvardSoft Robotics3D PrintingResearchManipulationSafety
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EPFL's Modular Robot Collective Gets More Reliable as It Grows — Not Less

Researchers at EPFL's Reconfigurable Robotics Lab published a breakthrough in Science Robotics demonstrating that modular robot collectives can become more reliable — not less — as more modules are added. Their Mori3 robot system uses local resource sharing: modules share power, sensor data, and communication with their neighbors, so if one module loses its own resources, the collective compensates. In experiments, a module deprived of power, sensing, and communication still completed a locomotion mission in a challenging environment, supported entirely by its neighbors. The work reverses a fundamental assumption in robotics — that more components mean more failure points — and could reshape how future home and service robots are designed for resilience.

·Science Robotics / EPFL
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NTT DOCOMO and Keio University Achieve First Haptic Robot Teleoperation Over Commercial 5G

NTT DOCOMO and Keio University demonstrated high-precision remote robot control with real-time force feedback over a commercial 5G standalone network — a first for practical teleoperation. The system pairs DOCOMO's Configured Grant low-latency network slicing with Keio's Real Haptics technology, which synchronizes position, force, and speed between a human operator and a remote robot in real time. In tests, a hand-type robot grasped and transported objects while force-feedback reproduction improved by 40% and motion smoothness by 59% compared to standard 5G. Configured Grant pre-allocates radio resources so the robot can transmit instantly without waiting for network permission, eliminating the scheduling delay that makes remote manipulation jerky and imprecise. The breakthrough matters for home and humanoid robots because teleoperation remains a key fallback when autonomous AI gets stuck — as seen with 1X's NEO, where remote operators take over through the robot's cameras. Lower-latency, higher-fidelity remote control over existing 5G infrastructure could make teleop-assisted home robots far more practical.

·Interesting Engineering / NTT DOCOMO
Boston Dynamics Gives Hydraulic Atlas One Last Run, Pushing Full-Body Acrobatics to the LimitHumanoid

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With the commercial electric Atlas now shipping to enterprise customers, Boston Dynamics gave its legendary hydraulic Atlas research platform one final showcase. Engineers made a last push to test the limits of full-body control and mobility, with help from the RAI Institute (Robotics and AI Institute), Hyundai's research arm led by BD founder Marc Raibert. The farewell video demonstrated extreme acrobatics, dynamic balancing, and athletic feats that defined a decade of viral robotics moments — from backflips to parkour — and cemented hydraulic Atlas as the robot that proved humanoids could move like athletes. The research platform's legacy now lives on in the electric Atlas, which trades hydraulic power for commercial viability.

·IEEE Spectrum / Boston Dynamics / RAI Institute