{"id":10247,"date":"2026-11-09T18:37:30","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T18:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=10247"},"modified":"2026-11-09T18:37:30","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T18:37:30","slug":"these-robotic-arms-are-made-of-algae-watch-how-they-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=10247","title":{"rendered":"These Robotic Arms Are Powered by Algae. Watch How They Move"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

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What if a<\/span> robot could be squishy? Soft, flexible robots could be useful for a wide variety of applications, including artificial muscles and wearable devices<\/a>\u2014or really any application where a robot must be especially delicate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is what has fueled development of \u201csoft actuators\u201d that can flex like a bicep and have a fine-tuned sense of touch as in the human hand<\/a>. Like your stereotypical robot, soft actuators convert energy\u2014such as electricity, heat, or light\u2014into mechanical motion, but they look nothing like the metal and wire constructs that the word \u201crobot\u201d most often evokes.<\/p>\n

One variety of these soft robots, known as bioactuators, utilizes the functions of living cells to generate motion. These biological machines have attracted particular attention in recent years, and now a research team at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands has developed<\/a> a soft robotic arm colonized by algae<\/a> on its surface, and when the microbes photosynthesize, the arm moves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t start with\u00a0a specific application. Our goal has always been to bring the research of living materials to new levels,\u201d Marie-Eve Aubin-Tam, who led the research, explained in a press release<\/a>. \u201cWe wanted to explore what becomes possible when living cells are integrated into functional materials.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"Soft<\/picture><\/span><\/div>\n

Video: Studio Oostrum\/TU Delft<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What if a robot could be squishy? Soft, flexible robots could be useful for a wide variety of applications, including artificial muscles and wearable devices\u2014or really any application where a robot must be especially delicate. This is what has fueled development of \u201csoft actuators\u201d that can flex like a bicep and have a fine-tuned sense […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1528,1510,780,1472,164],"class_list":["post-10247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gadgets","tag-biomechanics","tag-biomimicry","tag-biotech","tag-microbes","tag-robotics"],"yoast_head":"\nThese Robotic Arms Are Powered by Algae. 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