Muscle-mimicking soft robots can help with physical therapy

Some soft robots can wriggle into tight spots and swim like a real octopus. These ones developed by a team from the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), however, are also capable of doing something more: they can help with the physical rehabilitation of people recovering from injuries and illnesses. The EPFL team have created a number of flexible, reconfigurable machines that can mimic human muscles' movement. They're made of silicon and rubber -- though the team also made a variant using a thick paper shell -- and they can be controlled by manipulating how much air they have inside. One of the medical devices they created with their soft robots is a belt that keeps patients upright and controls their movements during rehabilitation exercises.