KAIST's BeetleBot: finger-controlled soft robot walks, grips and streams sensory feedback
CurieuxExplorer · x · 2026-10-15
A KAIST team led by Professor Sang Ouk Kim, working with Caltech's Wei Gao and NTU's Hirotaka Sato, developed BeetleBot, a beetle-inspired soft robot published in Science Advances. It integrates artificial muscles, a camera and tactile sensors, letting users drive it in real time by bending or straightening a finger, pick up and move small objects remotely, and receive live images and contact feedback. The team expects applications in inspecting narrow, hard-to-reach spaces and retrieving small objects.
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