The following footage obtained by The Washington Post shows Colorado authorities responding to a car crash on May 16, 2022, in Evergreen, Colo. This story is best experienced with sound. Hans von Ohain and Erik Rossiter were on their way to play golf one afternoon in 2022 when von Ohain's Tesla suddenly swerved off Upper Bear Creek Road. The car's driver-assistance software, Full Self-Driving, was struggling to navigate the mountain curves, forcing von Ohain repeatedly to yank it back on course. "The first time it happened, I was like, 'Is that normal?'" recalled Rossiter, who described the five-mile drive on the outskirts of Denver as "uncomfortable." "And he was like, 'Yeah, that happens every now and then.'"

This new advance, published in the journal Science Robotics, could pave the way for smaller, lighter and more effective micro flying robots for environmental monitoring, search and rescue, and deployment in hazardous environments. Until now, typical micro flying robots have used motors, gears and other complex transmission systems to achieve the up-and-down motion of the wings. This has added complexity, weight and undesired dynamic effects. Taking inspiration from bees and other flying insects, researchers from Bristol's Faculty of Engineering, led by Professor of Robotics Jonathan Rossiter, have successfully demonstrated a direct-drive artificial muscle system, called the Liquid-amplified Zipping Actuator (LAZA), that achieves wing motion using no rotating parts or gears. In the paper, the team show how a pair of LAZA-powered flapping wings can provide more power compared with insect muscle of the same weight, enough to fly a robot across a room at 18 body lengths per second.

Smart trousers with artificial muscles have the potential to improve the lives of people with mobility problems, say researchers. Inspired by the Wallace and Gromit clay animation The Wrong Trousers, the garb has been dubbed "the right trousers". Jonathan Rossiter, a professor of robotics at the University of Bristol who is leading the project, demonstrated components of the trousers at the British Science Festival, taking place in Hull this week. He believes that wearable technologies will not only assist people with mobility problems with daily tasks, but could also be useful for rehabilitation. "We have developed lightweight bubble artificial muscles, which could help people to stand up or to lift objects," Rossiter said.

There's a lot we can learn from the octopus. Scientists working in the field of soft robotics have been devising smart materials, smart skins and artificial muscles which move and work in novel ways – all taking a cue from how octopuses move. And by better understanding octopuses, engineers could soon transform the technologies available to people with disabilities. "Some of our smart skins are based on the skin of the octopus and the cephalopods," says engineer Jonathan Rossiter, head of the soft robotics group at Bristol Robotics Laboratory. They can change colour, change texture and radically morph their shapes.