Soft Robot with Neurologic Capabilities

In work that combines a deep understanding of the biology of soft-bodied animals such as earthworms with advances in materials and electronic technologies, researchers from the United States and China have developed a robotic device containing a stretchable transistor that allows neurological function.

Cunjiang Yu, Bill D. Cook Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Houston, said the work represents a significant step toward the development of prosthetics that could directly connect with the peripheral nerves in biological tissues, offering neurological function to artificial limbs, as well as toward advances in soft neurorobots capable of thinking and making judgments.

The findings have implications for neuroprosthetics, as well as for neuromorphic computing, an emerging technology with the potential to allow high volume information processing using small amounts of energy through devices that mimic the electric behavior of neural networks.

Read more at University of Houston

Image Credit: University of Houston

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