The first tendril-like soft robot able to climb

Researchers at IIT-Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia created the first soft robot mimicking plant tendrils. It is able to curl and climb using the same physical principles determining water transport in plants. The research team is led by Barbara Mazzolai, and results have been published in Nature Communications. In the future, this tendril-like soft robot could inspire the development of wearable devices such as soft braces that actively morph their shape.