'Soft Robots' Look Nothing Like the Machines You Know

What happens when you imagine a robot? Most likely, you're picturing something with lots of nuts, bolts, gears and exposed metal. But an emerging field of robotics stands to change the way you think about these automated marvels. Experts in so-called "soft robotics" are designing new highly flexible robots that, in many cases, look more like sea creatures. The goal? Building machines that can accomplish tasks impossible with more rigid, traditionally-designed robots.