Army creates soft robots to go where humans cannot

Soldiers might end up using flexible robots inspired by invertebrates to go where humans can't. Ed Habtour works in the US Army Research Laboratory's Vehicle Technology Directorate, where he specializes in nonlinear dynamical systems. The US Army Research Laboratory and University of Minnesota have joined forces to develop extra pliable materials that can be 3D-printed on the battlefield and used to build robots that can move easily within confined spaces, the way biological organisms like a squid might maneuver through small holes in underwater rocks. Current military robots can't move freely in highly populated environments because they're made with rigid mechanical parts. However, that situation may change now that researchers have recently created a prototype of soft 3D-printed dielectric elastomer actuator -- an electroactive polymer that changes shape when hit with an electrical charge.