Materials science
Related papers: 20
About
Materials science is an interdisciplinary field that studies the structure, properties, processing, and performance of matter, encompassing metals, polymers, ceramics, composites, and emerging functional materials. In robotics and AI, it plays a foundational role by enabling the development of novel materials that give robots new physical capabilities. Key applications include soft and stretchable elastomers for compliant robot bodies, flexible electronic skins that sense pressure, strain, and temperature, hydrogels for bioinspired actuators, liquid metals for deformable circuits, and ferromagnetic composites for magnetically controlled shape-changing structures. These materials allow robots to safely interact with humans, conform to irregular surfaces, and achieve biomimetic locomotion impossible with rigid components. Materials science matters because hardware capabilities ultimately constrain what robots can do; breakthroughs in self-healing polymers, printable electronics, and biocompatible substrates directly translate into safer wearable health monitors, more dexterous grippers, and minimally invasive medical microrobots, making it an essential enabler of next-generation intelligent physical systems.
Top Researchers
Top Cited Papers
Design, fabrication and control of soft robots
Daniela Rus, Michael T. Tolley
Citations: 5556 • 2015
Skin-like pressure and strain sensors based on transparent elastic films of carbon nanotubes
Darren J. Lipomi, Michael Vosgueritchian, Benjamin C. K. Tee, Sondra Hellstrom, Jennifer A. Lee, Courtney H. Fox, Zhenan Bao
Citations: 3147 • 2011
Stretchable, Skin‐Mountable, and Wearable Strain Sensors and Their Potential Applications: A Review
Morteza Amjadi, Ki‐Uk Kyung, Inkyu Park, Metin Sitti
Citations: 3055 • 2016
Applied Mechanics and Materials
Citations: 2583 • 2026
25th Anniversary Article: The Evolution of Electronic Skin (E‐Skin): A Brief History, Design Considerations, and Recent Progress
Mallory L. Hammock, Alex Chortos, Benjamin C. K. Tee, Jeffrey B.‐H. Tok, Zhenan Bao
Citations: 2362 • 2013
Small-scale soft-bodied robot with multimodal locomotion
Wenqi Hu, Guo Zhan Lum, Massimo Mastrangeli, Metin Sitti
Citations: 2305 • 2018
Skin electronics from scalable fabrication of an intrinsically stretchable transistor array
Sihong Wang, Jie Xu, Weichen Wang, Ging‐Ji Nathan Wang, Reza Rastak, Francisco Molina‐Lopez, Jong Won Chung, Simiao Niu, Vivian R. Feig, Jeffrey Lopez, Ting Lei, Soon‐Ki Kwon, Yeongin Kim, Amir M. Foudeh, Anatol Ehrlich, Andrea Gasperini, Youngjun Yun, Boris Murmann, Jeffrey B.‐H. Tok, Zhenan Bao
Citations: 2162 • 2018
Printing ferromagnetic domains for untethered fast-transforming soft materials
Yoonho Kim, Hyunwoo Yuk, Ruike Renee Zhao, Shawn A. Chester, Xuanhe Zhao
Citations: 2128 • 2018
An integrated design and fabrication strategy for entirely soft, autonomous robots
Michael Wehner, Ryan L. Truby, Daniel J. Fitzgerald, Bobak Mosadegh, George M. Whitesides, Jennifer A. Lewis, Robert J. Wood
Citations: 2096 • 2016
Multigait soft robot
Robert F. Shepherd, Filip Ilievski, Wonjae Choi, Stephen A. Morin, Adam A. Stokes, Aaron D. Mazzeo, Xin Chen, George M. Whitesides
Citations: 2059 • 2011
Soft robotics: a bioinspired evolution in robotics
Sangbae Kim, Cecilia Laschi, Barry A. Trimmer
Citations: 2042 • 2013
Flexible polymer transistors with high pressure sensitivity for application in electronic skin and health monitoring
Gregor Schwartz, Benjamin C. K. Tee, Jianguo Mei, Anthony L. Appleton, Do Hwan Kim, Huiliang Wang, Zhenan Bao
Citations: 2027 • 2013
A large-area, flexible pressure sensor matrix with organic field-effect transistors for artificial skin applications
Takao Someya, Tsuyoshi Sekitani, Shingo Iba, Yusaku Kato, Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Takayasu Sakurai
Citations: 1891 • 2004
25th Anniversary Article: Engineering Hydrogels for Biofabrication
Jos Malda, Jetze Visser, Ferry P.W. Melchels, Tomasz Jüngst, Wim E. Hennink, Wouter J.A. Dhert, Jürgen Gröll, Dietmar W. Hutmacher
Citations: 1874 • 2013
Soft Robotic Grippers
Jun Shintake, Vito Cacucciolo, Dario Floreano, Herbert Shea
Citations: 1850 • 2018
Lab-on-a-chip: microfluidics in drug discovery
Petra S. Dittrich, A. Manz
Citations: 1828 • 2006
Stretchable and Soft Electronics using Liquid Metals
Michael D. Dickey
Citations: 1703 • 2017
Lab-on-Skin: A Review of Flexible and Stretchable Electronics for Wearable Health Monitoring
Yuhao Liu, Matt Pharr, Giovanni A. Salvatore
Citations: 1661 • 2017
Electronic Skin: Recent Progress and Future Prospects for Skin‐Attachable Devices for Health Monitoring, Robotics, and Prosthetics
Jun Chang Yang, Jaewan Mun, Se Young Kwon, Seongjun Park, Zhenan Bao, Steve Park
Citations: 1616 • 2019
Printing soft matter in three dimensions
Ryan L. Truby, Jennifer A. Lewis
Citations: 1576 • 2016