ArticleScience advances2021
Reprogrammable soft actuation and shape-shifting via tensile jamming.
Article in Science advances, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed.
- Soft robotic devices for cardiovascular medicine.Nature reviews. Cardiology · 2026Review
- Architected Load Paths Enable Stiffening and Motion Programming in Soft Pneumatic Actuators.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- A bionic robotic trunk with tensegrity-enabled elephant-comparable stiffness variability for assisted daily living.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Reprogrammable Phase-Transition Composites for Adaptive Dynamic Shape Morphing.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Digital composites with reprogrammable phase architectures.Science advances · 2026Article
- Spatiotemporally programmed dielectric liquid crystal elastomer: Electro-reversible 3D morphing via inverse 4D printing.Science advances · 2025Article
- Stiffening iron particles to modulate physical interactions.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Jamming with magnetic composites.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Thermo-responsive jamming by particle shape change.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Encoding Desired Deformation Profiles in Endoscope-Like Soft Robots.IEEE transactions on medical robotics and bionics · 2025Article
- Multifunctional Magnetic Muscles for Soft Robotics.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Can software-defined vehicles never roll over: A perspective of active structural transformation.Fundamental research · 2024Article
- Rejuvenating liquid crystal elastomers for self-growth.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Pioneering healthcare with soft robotic devices: A review.Smart medicine · 2024Review
- Hybrid-Driven Origami Gripper with Variable Stiffness and Finger Length.Cyborg and bionic systems (Washington, D.C.) · 2024Article
- Multi-modal deformation and temperature sensing for context-sensitive machines.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Embedded shape morphing for morphologically adaptive robots.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Soft and lightweight fabric enables powerful and high-range pneumatic actuation.Science advances · 2023Article
- Magnetically induced stiffening for soft robotics.Soft matter · 2023Article
- Self-vectoring electromagnetic soft robots with high operational dimensionality.Nature communications · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The emerging generation of robots composed of soft materials strives to match biological motor adaptation skills via shape-shifting. Soft robots often harness volumetric expansion directed by strain limiters to deform in complex ways. Traditionally, strain limiters have been inert materials embedded within a system to prescribe a single deformation. Under changing task demands, a fixed deformation mode limits adaptability. Recent technologies for on-demand reprogrammable deformation of soft bodies, including thermally activated variable stiffness materials and jamming systems, presently suffer from long actuation times or introduce unwanted bending stiffness. We present fibers that switch tensile stiffness via jamming of segmented elastic fibrils. When jammed, tensile stiffness increases more than 20× in less than 0.1 s, but bending stiffness increases only 2×. When adhered to an inflating body, jamming fibers locally limit surface tensile strains, unlocking myriad programmable deformations. The proposed jamming technology is scalable, enabling adaptive behaviors in emerging robotic materials that interact with unstructured environments.
Identifiers
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.