Beetle-inspired soft robot BeetleBot walks, grasps, and relays sensory feedback via finger commands

KAIST, together with Caltech and Nanyang Technological University, developed BeetleBot, a beetle-inspired soft robot that users can remotely control to walk, turn, and grasp by bending and extending a finger. The robot is driven by 3D-printed liquid crystal elastomer artificial muscles, and an onboard camera and capacitive pressure sensors relay visual and tactile information, enabling bidirectional feedback. The research was published in Science Advances; the artificial muscles' speed, energy efficiency, and power supply still need improvement, and performance still needs to be tested in real work environments.