Science RoboticsPub Date : 2025-08-13DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.aea7372
Robin R. Murphy
{"title":"Robots in science fiction unload assumptions about freight logistics","authors":"Robin R. Murphy","doi":"10.1126/scirobotics.aea7372","DOIUrl":"10.1126/scirobotics.aea7372","url":null,"abstract":"<div >Science fiction argues for specialized robots, not general-purpose humanoid robots, for unloading of cargo and parcels.</div>","PeriodicalId":56029,"journal":{"name":"Science Robotics","volume":"10 105","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":27.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144833371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Science RoboticsPub Date : 2025-08-13DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.adt7461
Revanth Konda, Timothy A. Brumfiel, Zachary L. Bercu, Jonathan A. Grossberg, Jaydev P. Desai
{"title":"Robotically steerable guidewires—Current trends and future directions","authors":"Revanth Konda, Timothy A. Brumfiel, Zachary L. Bercu, Jonathan A. Grossberg, Jaydev P. Desai","doi":"10.1126/scirobotics.adt7461","DOIUrl":"10.1126/scirobotics.adt7461","url":null,"abstract":"<div >Research on robotically steerable guidewires has surged in the past decade because of their potential in addressing difficulties related to endovascular interventions. These microscale devices exhibit unique challenges in design, fabrication, and control, not necessarily present in mesoscale continuum robots such as robotic catheters and endoscopes. Existing literature on surgical robots mainly addresses advancements in robotic surgery with a focus on current trends in specific clinical procedures. Our article aims to bridge this gap by reviewing current clinical practices in endovascular interventions, highlighting the clinical motivations for the development of robotically steerable guidewires, and detailing the current advancements and future prospects in topics related to these devices.</div>","PeriodicalId":56029,"journal":{"name":"Science Robotics","volume":"10 105","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":27.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144833408","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Plasticized electrohydraulic robot autopilots in the deep sea","authors":"Guorui Li, Peng Shen, Tuck-Whye Wong, Mingyu Liu, Zhenxiang Sun, Xinyu Liu, Yongzai Chen, Xianghan Wang, Hao Zhang, Bingxu Hu, Deli Chen, Zhihan Zhang, Chao Zhang, Rongchen Wang, Wenhao Zhang, Shuai Nie, Xinyue Zhang, Jie-Wei Wong, Haofei Zhou, Wenbo Li, Hao Wang, Qian Zhang, Shenlong Wang, Zhiwen Yu, Hai Li, Hongyu Zhao, Qingyun Zeng, Shiping Wang, Zhilong Huang, Cong Ye, A-Man Zhang, Tiefeng Li","doi":"10.1126/scirobotics.adt8054","DOIUrl":"10.1126/scirobotics.adt8054","url":null,"abstract":"<div >Soft robots, with their compliant bodies, minimal environmental disturbance, and ability to withstand ambient pressures, offer promising solutions for deep-sea exploration. However, a common challenge of stiffening in soft materials impairs their effective actuation in harsh conditions. In this work, we integrated a liquid dielectric plasticizer within an electrohydraulic soft robot, serving dual critical functions as a softening agent to maintain the softness of the polymer shell and an electrohydraulic fluid for efficient actuation. In addition, by using the surrounding seawater as alternating electrodes, we prevented charge retention in dielectric layers, enabling sustained actuation performance. Field tests at depths of ~1360, 3176, and ~4071 meters confirmed the robot’s ability to sense the environment, navigate complex trajectories, and withstand unsteady disturbances. Our work offers a generalized and straightforward framework for developing soft materials tailored for deep-sea applications, paving the way for soft robots to execute real-world missions.</div>","PeriodicalId":56029,"journal":{"name":"Science Robotics","volume":"10 105","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":27.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144833404","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Science RoboticsPub Date : 2025-08-13DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.adj9699
Raúl Domínguez, Carlos Pérez-del-Pulgar, Gonzalo J. Paz-Delgado, Fabio Polisano, Jonathan Babel, Thierry Germa, Iulia Dragomir, Valérie Ciarletti, Anne-Claire Berthet, Leon Cedric Danter, Frank Kirchner
{"title":"Cooperative robotic exploration of a planetary skylight surface and lava cave","authors":"Raúl Domínguez, Carlos Pérez-del-Pulgar, Gonzalo J. Paz-Delgado, Fabio Polisano, Jonathan Babel, Thierry Germa, Iulia Dragomir, Valérie Ciarletti, Anne-Claire Berthet, Leon Cedric Danter, Frank Kirchner","doi":"10.1126/scirobotics.adj9699","DOIUrl":"10.1126/scirobotics.adj9699","url":null,"abstract":"<div >Exploration of lava caves on the surface of planetary bodies near Earth is of high importance for scientific research and space exploration. The natural shielding that these caves offer against radiation and small meteorites makes them well suited for preserving exobiological signatures and protecting human-made facilities. The use of a robot team arises as the safest and most cost-efficient way to explore extraterrestrial lava caves because they are difficult to access. Although the approach has been demonstrated in similar scenarios on Earth, its adaptation to space conditions needs further research. Here, we define a lava cave exploration mission concept, including four mission phases that are performed by a heterogeneous team of three robots equipped with the required hardware and software. This mission concept was validated in a relevant scenario, a lava cave on Lanzarote island (Spain), where the team of robots was able to build a three-dimensional model of the surrounding area and skylight, introducing a scout rover through rappelling and exploring the inner part of the cave. The results obtained demonstrate the proposed mission concept’s feasibility, including three next-generation planetary exploration rovers that were coordinated to obtain meaningful information about the lava cave’s external and internal morphology.</div>","PeriodicalId":56029,"journal":{"name":"Science Robotics","volume":"10 105","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":27.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.science.org/doi/reader/10.1126/scirobotics.adj9699","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144833388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Science RoboticsPub Date : 2025-07-30DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.adt7329
Herman van der Kooij, Edwin H. F. van Asseldonk, Massimo Sartori, Chiara Basla, Adrian Esser, Robert Riener
{"title":"AI in therapeutic and assistive exoskeletons and exosuits: Influences on performance and autonomy","authors":"Herman van der Kooij, Edwin H. F. van Asseldonk, Massimo Sartori, Chiara Basla, Adrian Esser, Robert Riener","doi":"10.1126/scirobotics.adt7329","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.adt7329","url":null,"abstract":"Therapeutic and assistive exoskeletons and exosuits show promise in both clinical and real-world settings. Improving their autonomy can enhance usability, effectiveness, and cost efficiency. This Review presents a generic control framework for autonomous operation of upper and lower limb devices and reviews current advancements and future directions. We highlight how data-driven machine learning aids in intention recognition, synchronization, patient assessment, and task-agnostic control. In addition, we discuss how reinforcement learning optimizes control policies through digital human twins and how generative AI supports therapy planning and patient engagement. Richer patient-specific data and more accurate digital twins are needed for clinical validation and widespread deployment.","PeriodicalId":56029,"journal":{"name":"Science Robotics","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":25.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144737522","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Science RoboticsPub Date : 2025-07-30DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.adz8279
Pierre E. Dupont, Alperen Degirmenci
{"title":"The grand challenges of learning medical robot autonomy","authors":"Pierre E. Dupont, Alperen Degirmenci","doi":"10.1126/scirobotics.adz8279","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.adz8279","url":null,"abstract":"Most medical robots depend on human operators for sensing, decision-making, and action during procedures. Future progress depends on enabling robots to take on these capabilities. Although learning-based approaches provide remarkable promise toward achieving this goal, notable challenges must be addressed to unlock these robots’ full potential in clinical settings.","PeriodicalId":56029,"journal":{"name":"Science Robotics","volume":"7 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":25.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144737773","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Science RoboticsPub Date : 2025-07-30DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.adt5338
Lilu Liu, Jingyu Zhang, Fei Wang, Jiyu Yu, Yuxiang Cui, Zhibin Li, Jian Hu, Rong Xiong, Haojian Lu, Yue Wang
{"title":"AI search, physician removal: Bronchoscopy robot bridges collaboration in foreign body aspiration","authors":"Lilu Liu, Jingyu Zhang, Fei Wang, Jiyu Yu, Yuxiang Cui, Zhibin Li, Jian Hu, Rong Xiong, Haojian Lu, Yue Wang","doi":"10.1126/scirobotics.adt5338","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.adt5338","url":null,"abstract":"Bronchial foreign body aspiration is a life-threatening condition with a high incidence across diverse populations, requiring urgent diagnosis and treatment. However, the limited availability of skilled practitioners and advanced medical equipment in community clinics and underdeveloped regions underscores the broader challenges in emergency care. Here, we present a cost-effective robotic bronchoscope capable of computed tomography (CT)–free, artificial intelligence (AI)–driven foreign body search and doctor-collaborated removal over long distances via fifth-generation (5G) communication. The system is built around a low-cost (<5000 USD), portable (<2 kilograms) bronchoscope robotic platform equipped with a 3.3-millimeter-diameter catheter and 1-millimeter biopsy forceps designed for safe pulmonary search and foreign body removal. Our AI algorithm, which integrates classical data structures with modern machine learning techniques, enables thorough CT-free lung coverage. The tree structure is leveraged to memorize a compact exploration process and guide the decision-making. Both virtual and physical simulations demonstrate the system’s effective autonomous foreign body search, minimizing bronchial wall contact to reduce patient discomfort. In a remote procedure, a physician in Hangzhou successfully retrieved a foreign body from a live pig located 1500 kilometers away in Chengdu using 5G communication, highlighting effective collaboration of AI, robotics, and human experts. We anticipate that this 5G-enabled, low-cost, AI expert–collaborated robotic platform has notable potential to reduce medical disparities, enhance emergency care, improve patient outcomes, decrease physician workload, and streamline medical procedures through the automation of routine tasks.","PeriodicalId":56029,"journal":{"name":"Science Robotics","volume":"715 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":25.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144737523","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Science RoboticsPub Date : 2025-07-30DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.adz8291
Pierre E Dupont
{"title":"Medical robots learn to be autonomous.","authors":"Pierre E Dupont","doi":"10.1126/scirobotics.adz8291","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.adz8291","url":null,"abstract":"Numerous challenges in medicine could be addressed by harnessing autonomy and artificial intelligence in medical robots.","PeriodicalId":56029,"journal":{"name":"Science Robotics","volume":"285 1","pages":"eadz8291"},"PeriodicalIF":25.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144747899","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Science RoboticsPub Date : 2025-07-23DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.adz8966
Robin R. Murphy
{"title":"Knowledge before faith is the motto of a robot pope","authors":"Robin R. Murphy","doi":"10.1126/scirobotics.adz8966","DOIUrl":"10.1126/scirobotics.adz8966","url":null,"abstract":"<div >Clifford D. Simak’s <i>Project Pope</i> imagines a distant future where logic unifies religion.</div>","PeriodicalId":56029,"journal":{"name":"Science Robotics","volume":"10 104","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":26.1,"publicationDate":"2025-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144688288","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Science RoboticsPub Date : 2025-07-23DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.adt0187
Samuel Schmidgall, Justin D. Opfermann, Ji Woong Kim, Axel Krieger
{"title":"Will your next surgeon be a robot? Autonomy and AI in robotic surgery","authors":"Samuel Schmidgall, Justin D. Opfermann, Ji Woong Kim, Axel Krieger","doi":"10.1126/scirobotics.adt0187","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.adt0187","url":null,"abstract":"State-of-the-art surgery is performed robotically under direct surgeon control. However, surgical outcome is limited by the availability, skill, and day-to-day performance of the operating surgeon. What will it take to improve surgical outcomes independent of human limitations? In this Review, we explore the technological evolution of robotic surgery and current trends in robotics and artificial intelligence that could lead to a future generation of autonomous surgical robots that will outperform today’s teleoperated robots.","PeriodicalId":56029,"journal":{"name":"Science Robotics","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":25.0,"publicationDate":"2025-07-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144684604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}