Meet the World's First Completely Soft Robot

The "octobot" is a squishy little robot that fits in the palm of your hand and looks like something in a goody bag from a child's birthday party. But despite its quirky name and diminutive size, this bot represents an astonishing advance in robotics. According to the Harvard researchers who created it, it's the first soft robot that is completely self-contained. It has no hard electronic components--no batteries or computer chips--and moves without being tethered to a computer. The octobot is basically a pneumatic tube with a very cute exterior.