A recent study in Nature Communications presents a new class of shape memory polymer (SMP) surfaces embedded with nanotips. These surfaces feature tunable nanoscale roughness, enabling adjustable dry ...

With their ability to shapeshift and manipulate delicate objects, soft robots could work as medical implants, deliver drugs inside the body and help explore dangerous environments. But the squishy ...

Researchers, materials scientists, and engineers have eight days to help shape what could become the U.S. military’s next ...

The future of next-generation robots that move like living systems will be shaped by advances in molecular design ...

Researchers develop a recyclable sulfur-based polymer that enables 4D printing of soft robots with programmable shape changes and magnetic responsiveness. (Nanowerk Spotlight) Materials designed to ...

A recent article published in Small Science introduces fully bioderived, four-dimensional (4D) printable shape memory polymers (SMPs) with linear tunability and remotely controlled actuation ...

4D printing introduces the "time dimension" based on 3D printing, enabling printed structures to undergo controllable dynamic changes in shape, properties, or functions under external stimuli such as ...