Project description
Soft robotics and the future of embodied intelligence
While AI has gifted machines with a digital ‘brain,’ their physical evolution has stalled. Most robots remain collections of rigid joints that are precise but brittle. This stands in stark contrast to the biological world, where distributed, soft muscle structures allow organisms to navigate complex environments with an adaptability that traditional mechanics cannot replicate. The ERC-funded ColorfulAct project aims to close this disparity. Rather than relying on bulky internal wiring or rigid pistons, the project uses light as a high-bandwidth control signal to trigger movement within soft materials. For instance, researchers ‘talk’ to specific parts of a robot using different colours of light, enabling complex, coordinated motions at the millimetre scale.
Objective
Artificial intelligence has revolutionized today’s society by expanding machines’ intellectual ability to approach humans through the creation of advanced algorithms. The physical capability of machines, however, remains basic compared to the evolved algorithms. Natural organisms have soft distributed musculatures actively coordinated in various ways to achieve different physical functions; machines are assembled from passive and rigid components with limited functions. The field of soft robotics has taken a leap to approach organisms by employing soft elastomeric materials that can either passively adapt to the environment or actively actuated by stimulus. Development so far has mainly focused on creating unit soft actuator with muscle-like performances, yet attention to distributed and addressable actuation remains elusive. I believe distributed and addressable features are fundamental concepts to expand physical intelligence, similar to the concepts of nodes and connections are foundational for artificial intelligence.
The central scientific challenge to realize distributed and addressable robotic materials lies in the narrow bandwidth of conventional stimulating signals to modulate actuation; this proposal breaks this mold by exploiting the broad bandwidth of light for high-capacity robotic materials. In this ERC proposal, I will exploit wavelength-division-multiplexing of broad band optical stimulus and establish a unified platform (i.e. materials library, actuation mechanisms, integral soft optical system) to realize distributed, addressable (i.e. individually controllable actuators at ≤ millimeter scale spatial resolution) and high capacity robotic material in a small form factor, and demonstrate advanced robotic multifunctionalities via coordination of distributed actuators in two small scale soft robot examples that are not possible with other stimuli.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering robotics
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG
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8092 Zuerich
Switzerland
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