Chengfeng Pan

Iontronic pressure sensors featuring high sensitivity are promising across different emerging fields. In applications requiring high-fidelity sensing such as surgeries, reliable pressure monitoring necessitates sensitivity and stability at the same time to ensure safety. However, existing iontronic sensors often face a trade-off between them—soft ionic materials with high conductivity often present pronounced viscoelasticity, resulting in a low sensitivity–to–drift-rate ( S/D ) ratio. Here, we report a polyelectrolyte-based iontronic pressure sensor that achieves a nearly one order-of-magnitude improvement in S/D ratio over state-of-the-art designs using a polarity-balance strategy in the polyelectrolyte to simultaneously regulate ionic conductivity and viscoelasticity. The resulting sensor exhibits ultrahigh sensitivity (119.5 per kilopascal) and exceptional stability (drift rate < 1%) under prolonged pressures up to 450 kilopascals, enabling nearly drift-free pressure detection for high-precision surgical operations in both surgeon-operated and robotic-assisted procedures. This work provides an extensible material design strategy to enhance sensitivity while suppressing signal drift in soft pressure sensors, with broad relevance to robotics, medical devices, and wearables.

Ejection dynamics can provide miniature robots with high-speed, cross-scale locomotion and non-contact operation. Here, we present a dynamic coupling ejection strategy for generating and transferring kinetic energy in miniature robotics. We demonstrate this strategy using a bilayer hydrogel catapult, in which rapid phase-transition-driven deformation couples dynamically with the projectile and the substrate, enabling substantial power output and kinetic energy release. The resulting ejection actuation system achieves a broadened projectile mass range (0-1000 times the catapult’s body weight), a launch velocity of 16.6 m/s for a same-mass projectile, and a power density ( > 8.74×10 ⁴ W/kg) that surpassing most natural and engineered miniature catapults. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate a hydrogel catapult-driven biopsy robot that ejects a thick needle to acquire deep tissue samples in a single operation. These results establish a platform for advancing rapid motion and high-power output in miniature soft robotics.

Swallowing disorders are a common complication after stroke, yet current assessment methods rely largely on clinical observation and subjective screening, limiting continuous and objective evaluation. Here, we report a large language model (LLM)‐driven throat‐wearable sensing system (TWSS) for real‐time monitoring of laryngeal activity and quantitative assessment of swallowing function. TWSS consists of a flexible sensing patch and a structured signal sequence–based LLM framework (S3‐LLM). The flexible patch integrates a stretchable sensor with a wireless circuit module, enabling conformal attachment to the throat and real‐time acquisition of physiological signals. Owing to its dual sensitivity to pressure and strain, the sensor can capture subtle and complex laryngeal movements associated with different physiological activities. S3‐LLM converts them into structured signal sequences and combines temporal encoding with parameter‐efficient fine‐tuning, thereby exploiting the representation and generalization capabilities of LLMs under few‐shot conditions. In a clinical validation involving 20 participants, TWSS achieved an accuracy of 92.4% for recognizing normal laryngeal activities and 87.6% for evaluating swallowing function, approximately 20% improvement over conventional models. These results demonstrate that TWSS provides a promising wearable platform for continuous, objective, and quantitative assessment of swallowing disorders and highlights the potential for personalized healthcare.

Stretchable sensor technologies capable of tracking multiple deformation modalities have attracted increasing attention due to their potential ability to improve the intelligence of soft robotics, stretchable electronics, and other soft-body systems. Existing multimodal deformation sensors typically require either complicated system integration and sensor layout or complex algorithmic techniques based on computational modeling and machine learning methods. Here, we report a stretchable multimodal deformation sensor that can measure and distinguish the magnitudes and modes of mechanical deformation (stretching, bending, twisting, and pressing) without reliance on complex computation or trained classification/regression models. This sensor relies on the layout of a stretchable magnetic film with a gradually varied magnetization profile and a 3-axis Hall sensor to decode the patterns of spatial change of magnetic flux strength under different deformation modes. We demonstrate the potential of this sensor in wearables and robotics by using it for neck motion monitoring, self-sensing electrical muscular stimulation, intelligent pneumatic gripper for objects classification, control of a stingray-inspired soft robot, and deformation recognition of an artificial elephant trunk.

Liquid metals (LMs), particularly gallium‐based alloys, have garnered increasing interest owing to their unique combination of metallic conductivity and fluidic deformability. By integrating LMs with various elastomers to form composites, researchers have unlocked remarkable potential in soft electronics, robotics, and biomedical devices. This review systematically summarizes the fundamental properties of LMs and highlights key design strategies, including composite formulation and architectural designs tailored to specific functionalities. Representative fabrication methods and their associated scalability‐resolution trade‐offs are further discussed. Finally, emerging applications in soft electronics and biomedical systems enabled by these tailored LM‐based materials are examined. This review aims to bridge the gap between material design and practical implementation, providing insights to guide the development of advanced wearables and intelligent stretchable electronics.

Water surface jumping motions of semi-aquatic insects are primarily rely on surface tension-dominated jumping mechanism to achieve impressive jumping performance. However, this mechanism faces an inherent physical constraint: the propulsion force must remain below the threshold required to break the water surface, limiting efficient momentum acquisition. Herein, we present a water surface jumping strategy that addresses the limitations of surface tension-dominated mechanism. Our approach allows the engineered jumper to achieve a record-breaking jumping height of 18 body lengths (63 cm) and take-off velocity of 100.6 body length/s (3.52 m/s). This strategy is built on three key design principles: (I) superhydrophobic body for floating on water surface, (II) light-weight, high-power actuation module capable of providing significant propulsion force within an ultrashort time, (III) well-engineered momentum transmission system for efficient kinetic energy transfer. The developed soft jumper based on these design principles advances the development of water environment related robotics.

In contrast with jumping robots made from rigid materials, soft jumpers composed of compliant and elastically deformable materials exhibit superior impact resistance and mechanically robust functionality. However, recent efforts to create stimuli-responsive jumpers from soft materials were limited in their response speed, takeoff velocity, and travel distance. Here, we report a magnetic-driven, ultrafast bistable soft jumper that exhibits good jumping capability (jumping more than 108 body heights with a takeoff velocity of more than 2 meters per second) and fast response time (less than 15 milliseconds) compared with previous soft jumping robots. The snap-through transitions between bistable states form a repeatable loop that harnesses the ultrafast release of stored elastic energy. On the basis of the dynamic analysis, the multimodal locomotion of the bistable soft jumper can be realized: the interwell mode of jumping and the intrawell mode of hopping. These modes are controlled by adjusting the duration and strength of the magnetic field, which endows the bistable soft jumper with robust locomotion capabilities. In addition, it is capable of jumping omnidirectionally with tunable heights and distances. To demonstrate its capability in complex environments, a realistic pipeline with amphibious terrain was established. The jumper successfully finished a simulative task of cleansing water through a pipeline. The design principle and actuating mechanism of the bistable soft jumper can be further extended for other flexible systems.

Robotic tasks that require robust propulsion abilities such as jumping, ejecting or catapulting require power-amplification strategies where kinetic energy is generated from pre-stored energy. Here we report an engineered accumulated strain energy-fracture power-amplification method that is inspired by the pressurized fluidic squirting mechanism of Ecballium elaterium (squirting cucumber plants). We realize a light-driven hydrogel launcher that harnesses fast liquid vapourization triggered by the photothermal response of an embedded graphene suspension. This vapourization leads to appreciable elastic energy storage within the surrounding hydrogel network, followed by rapid elastic energy release within 0.3 ms. These soft hydrogel robots achieve controlled launching at high velocity with a predictable trajectory. The accumulated strain energy-fracture method was used to create an artificial squirting cucumber that disperses artificial seeds over metres, which can further achieve smart seeding through an integrated radio-frequency identification chip. This power-amplification strategy provides a basis for propulsive motion to advance the capabilities of miniaturized soft robotic systems.

The magnetic microrobots promise benefits in minimally invasive cell-based therapy. However, they generally suffer from an inevitable compromise between their magnetic responsiveness and biomedical functions. Herein, we report a modularized microrobot consisting of magnetic actuation (MA) and cell scaffold (CS) modules. The MA module with strong magnetism and pH-responsive deformability and the CS module with cell loading-release capabilities were fabricated by three-dimensional printing technique. Subsequently, assembly of modules was performed by designing a shaft-hole structure and customizing their relative dimensions, which enabled magnetic navigation in complex environments, while not deteriorating the cellular functionalities. On-demand disassembly at targeted lesion was then realized to facilitate CS module delivery and retrieval of the MA module. Furthermore, the feasibility of proposed system was validated in an in vivo rabbit bile duct. Therefore, this work presents a modular design–based strategy that enables uncompromised fabrication of multifunctional microrobots and stimulates their development for future cell-based therapy.