Mimicking Nature: Robots with Biological Tissue Flexibility

(EPFL, July 18, 2025)

EPFL's CREATE Lab, led by Assistant Professor Josie Hughes, has developed a revolutionary foam lattice that mimics the flexibility of biological tissues, enabling robotic parts to twist, bend, and rotate like an elephant's trunk and joints. This breakthrough promises more adaptable and precise robots, marking a significant advancement in robotics. The researchers used a programmable lattice with over one million configurations, combining two types of cells, the body-centered cubic (BCC) cell and the X-cube, to achieve a wide range of stiffness, deformation, and load-bearing capacities. This method creates robotic 'tissue' that mirrors the diversity of natural musculoskeletal systems, offering a scalable approach for designing lightweight, adaptable robots and opening new possibilities for complex movements and functionalities in robotics research and design.