RobotMe summary
The Robot Report surveys animal-inspired robots used or proposed for inspection, disaster response, research, and companionship, ranging from beetle-scale soft robots and snake-shaped pipe inspectors to quadrupeds and robotic pets. One cited example is KAIST’s BeetleBot, whose artificial muscles, camera, tactile sensor, and gesture control were reported in Science Advances on August 19, 2026; KAIST describes narrow-space inspection and object retrieval as future applications, not established field deployments. The article is a broad feature mixing research demonstrations, commercial products, historical examples, and speculative uses rather than a single new study or independent performance test.
KAIST’s October 13 announcement names Sang Ouk Kim’s KAIST team, Wei Gao’s Caltech group, and Hirotaka Sato’s NTU group as BeetleBot collaborators. Their demonstrations guided the small soft robot around obstacles and had it grip and carry a target object using visual and tactile feedback. KAIST says faster, more energy-efficient actuation and real-world performance verification are still needed before the proposed inspection uses can be established.