Building a robot is hard. Building one that can sense its environment and learn how to get around on its own is even harder. But UCLA engineers took on an even bigger challenge. Not only did they create autonomous robots, they 3-D printed them in a single step. Each robot is about the size of a fingertip.

Engineers have created an inflatable robot so nimble it can beat the classic Nintendo game Super Mario Bros. The machine, pioneered by Ryan Sochol, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and other researchers at the University of Maryland, resembles a three-fingered hand and uses an emerging technology called soft robotics to manipulate objects. Its movements are pressure controlled, powered by air and water instead of electricity, and are so precise that the robots can be modified to fit an array of prosthetics and biomedical devices. Typically constructed with malleable materials like rubber or silicone, soft robots have been used by hospitals and in manufacturing for years. Most look more like an octopus than a stiff android covered in wires, like C-3PO from Star Wars.