Soft robots made out of flexible, biocompatible materials are in high demand in industries from health care to manufacturing, but precisely designing and controlling such robots for specific purposes is a perennial challenge. What if you could 3D print a soft robot with predictable shape-morphing capabilities already built in? Harvard 3D printing experts have shown it's possible.

A system developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo lets people collaborate with groups of robots to create works of art inspired by music. The new technology features multiple wheeled robots about the size of soccer balls that trail colored light as they move within a fixed area on the floor in response to key features of music including tempo and chord progression. A camera records the coordinated light trails as they snake within that area, which serves as the canvas for the creation of a "painting," or visual representation of the emotional content of a particular piece of music.

Manual handling can no longer keep pace without risking fatigue or injury, yet fully robotic systems are often rigid, costly, and hard to adapt. Between these extremes lies a growing opportunity for solutions that blend human expertise with targeted automation.