Wyss Institute

Researchers have incorporated living microbes into 3D printed objects. The resin material is embedded with chemical “instructions” that tell a layer of microbes to fluoresce in particular colors, producing a stunning array of patterns and designs.

We've watched with interest as subsequent developments have allowed RoboBee to fly, swim, hover, perch and lose its tether. Now it's become the first microrobot to achieve controlled flight using soft artificial muscles.

​Wearable mobility robots can be big and heavy, but they have the potential to help those who can't move to walk again or make light work of heavy objects. Harvard's Wyss Institute has revealed a soft exosuit that's lightweight and portable, and can provide both walking and running assistance.​

​Driven into the ground, interlocking metal plates known as sheet piles can keep soil from eroding after rainfall, they can serve as retaining walls on slopes, or perform other functions. Installing them is a laborious process, though, which is why scientists have created a robot to do the job.

A Harvard team has developed small, insect-like robots that can climb inside machines to inspect them, saving the trouble of pulling them apart if there’s nothing that needs fixing.

Wyss Institute's forays into soft robots have borne more ripe fruit in the shape of a soft robotic arm fit for use on submarines to handle delicate marine life like coral and jellyfish. This isn't the Harvard institute's first, but its latest iteration moves with "unprecedented dexterity."

If robots are ever going to work alongside humans in the real world, they're going to need a softer touch. Harvard researchers have developed a new method for producing small-scale squishy robots, and demonstrated it by creating a flexible robotic peacock spider, driven by a microfluidics system.

​When scientists are using submersibles to study deep-sea organisms, it's understandable that they'd want to harmlessly capture fragile-bodied animals in order to get a closer look at them. Well, Harvard University's Rotary Actuated Dodecahedron (RAD) sampler is designed for just such a purpose.

Harvard engineers have developed the world’s smallest Delta robot, dubbed the MilliDelta. As its name suggests, the new robot measures just a few millimeters, and could lend a hand in precise picking, packing, manufacturing and surgery on the micro scale.

In a newly published study, Harvard researchers have taken another step forward in the development of a soft exosuit, isolating the suit's load-bearing benefits and determining that it can result in energy savings of almost 23 percent.​

A lightweight exosuit, which features a “soft” fabric-based design, could help patients with lower limb disabilities regain mobility. The institute has partnered with ReWalk Robotics – the biggest name in powered exoskeletons - for the ambitious project.

Researchers working at Harvard University and MIT have revealed a robot that is able to transform itself from a flat structure into a moving, functional machine in around four minutes before scrambling away under its own power at a speed of about 2 in (5 cm) per second.