Lifeboat Foundation

Traditionally, robots have been machine-like, rigid, fast and efficient contraptions, much like Doctor Who’s Cybermen and Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit.

But, researchers at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne’s (EPFL) Reconfigurable Robotics Lab (RRL) have turned this notion on its head with their soft robots.

These flexible, reconfigurable and air-actuated robots behave like human muscles and could be used in physical rehabilitation.