This soft robot hugs your heart to help keep it pumping

The machines save lives, but because they come in direct contact with blood, the patient has to be on blood thinners to avoid clots that gum up the works. The soft robotic pump doesn't come into contact with blood. The thin sleeve slips over the outside of the heart, twisting and contracting to mimic the muscle's natural movements. To test it, the researchers induced cardiac arrest in six pigs, then used the sleeve to get their hearts pumping blood again for 15 minutes or more. That's promising news, but several challenges lie ahead.