Aquatic robot inspired by sea creatures walks, rolls, transports cargo

Soft material behaves like a robot, moving with precision and agility without complex hardware, hydraulics or electricity Embedded nickel skeleton enables robot to respond to external magnetic fields Life-like robotic materials could someday be used as'smart' microscopic systems for production of fuels and drugs, environmental cleanup or transformative medical procedures EVANSTON, Ill. It can walk at human speed, pick up and transport cargo to a new location, climb up hills and even break-dance to release a particle. Instead, it is activated by light and walks in the direction of an external rotating magnetic field. The researchers imagine customizing the movements of miniature robots to help catalyze different chemical reactions and then pump out the valuable products. The robots also could be molecularly designed to recognize and actively remove unwanted particles in specific environments, or to use their mechanical movements and locomotion to precisely deliver bio-therapeutics or cells to specific tissues.