Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40140409›Full record

ArticleNature communications2025

Data-driven design of shape-programmable magnetic soft materials.

Alp C Karacakol, Yunus Alapan, Sinan O Demir, Metin Sitti

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Vine-Inspired Soft Robotics: Materials, Actuations, and Emerging Applications.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026
    Review
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Magneto-X Effects in Magnetic Soft Materials and Their Applications.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026
    Review
  6. Article
  7. Embodied Cross-Domain Intelligence in Biomedical Microrobots: A Review.Cyborg and bionic systems (Washington, D.C.) · 2026
    Review
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Stable magnetic soft structures.Science advances · 2025
    Article
  11. Magnetically Controllable and Degradable Milliscale Swimmers as Intraocular Drug Implants.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Alp C KaracakolPhysical Intelligence Department, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1241-0800
Yunus AlapanPhysical Intelligence Department, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, Germany. alapan@wisc.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3064-7342
Sinan O DemirPhysical Intelligence Department, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6177-8372
Metin SittiPhysical Intelligence Department, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Stuttgart, Germany. sitti@is.mpg.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8249-3854

Funding

EC | EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation H2020 | H2020 Priority Excellent Science | H2020 European Research Council (H2020 Excellent Science - European Research Council) 834531
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Magnetically responsive soft materials with spatially-encoded magnetic and material properties enable versatile shape morphing for applications ranging from soft medical robots to biointerfaces. Although high-resolution encoding of 3D magnetic and material properties create a vast design space, their intrinsic coupling makes trial-and-error based design exploration infeasible. Here, we introduce a data-driven strategy that uses stochastic design alterations guided by a predictive neural network, combined with cost-efficient simulations, to optimize distributed magnetization profile and morphology of magnetic soft materials for desired shape-morphing and robotic behaviors. Our approach uncovers non-intuitive 2D designs that morph into complex 2D/3D structures and optimizes morphological behaviors, such as maximizing rotation or minimizing volume. We further demonstrate enhanced jumping performance over an intuitive reference design and showcase fabrication- and scale-agnostic, inherently 3D, multi-material soft structures for robotic tasks including traversing and jumping. This generic, data-driven framework enables efficient exploration of design space of stimuli-responsive soft materials, providing functional shape morphing and behavior for the next generation of soft robots and devices.

Identifiers

PMID40140409
PMCPMC11947188

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.