New Tech Robotics 2016

• 
  
  

  Credit: Ryan Truby, Michael Wehner, and Lori Sanders, Harvard University

  Be completely soft

  Soft robotics is a rapidly growing discipline, but until this year, the devices still relied on some rigid parts. Now, scientists have created the first completely soft-bodied robot that looks like an octopus and can propel itself. The device is made of silicone and uses gas from a small reservoir of hydrogen peroxide to pneumatically power its tentacles. The researchers are now working on adding sensors so the bot can navigate its environment.
• 3 of 12

  
  
  

  Credit: Melanie Gonick/MIT

  Help mend the human body

  The world's first autonomous robotic surgery took place this year. The procedure was carried out on a pig intestine, but the Star robot appeared to perform slightly better than skilled human surgeons at stitching up the animal’s intestines, according to the research published in May in the journal Science Translational Medicine. It's not unusual for robotic arms to assist doctors in surgeries these days, but this year, the tiny Preceyes surgical robot was used to operate inside a human eye for the first time. The bot acts like a mechanical hand controlled by a joystick that filters out tremors from the surgeon. Elsewhere, researchers created an ingestible robot from dried pig intestines and a magnet that can be guided through the body using a magnetic field to remove a battery, or other foreign object, from a person's stomach lining.
• 4 of 12

  
  
  

  Credit: Stephen McNally