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Soft robot transformers bend, expand, twist to deliver meds inside body | Robots for bladder control, blood flow measurement, stomach monitoring, and heart sensing and stimulation.

Researchers pioneer soft robots mimicking animal muscles & skin, advancing safety & effectiveness for use inside the body.

“These soft robots can perform a variety of well-controlled movements, including bending, expanding, and twisting inside biological environments,” said Lin Zhang, first author of the paper and a postdoctoral fellow in the University’s Department of Applied Physical Sciences, in a statement. Creating bio-inspired soft robots as implants promises major advancements in medical technology, especially for surgery, diagnosis, drug delivery, prosthetics, artificial organs, and rehabilitation tools. Their soft robots have two key layers: an electronic skin (e-skin) made from functional nanocomposites and an artificial muscle using a Poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) or PNIPAM hydrogel.

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