Heroes aren't born. They're built. Human joint mimicry in next-generation robots

The UC Santa Cruz DANSER lab (Dynamics, Autonomous Navigation, Surface Engineering and Robotics) develops disruptive new designs for robotic applications including exosuits, exoskeletons, manipulators, prosthetics, and rovers. Traditional robotic mechanisms rely on inelastic joints that, unlike the human shoulder or elbow, respond poorly when confronting unexpected forces. UCSC Professor Mircea Teodorescu, two of his graduate students, and several of their robots, will present new designs that fuse flexible and inelastic parts into a hybrid soft-rigid structure, thereby matching the functionality of biological joints. Yes, you read that right. There will be robots!