Researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities have made an extrusion process based on how plants grow. This process lets soft robots build their solid bodies from liquid to get to hard-to-reach places and move over rough terrain.

A group of scientists and engineers from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities who work in different fields came up with a plant-inspired extrusion process that makes it possible for synthetic materials to grow. With this new method, researchers can make better soft robots that can move around in hard-to-reach places, rough terrain, and maybe even parts of the human body.

Soft robotics is a new field in which robots are made of soft, bendable materials instead of hard ones. Soft robots that "grow" new parts as they move are called "soft growing robots." We could use these machines to do jobs that humans can't do, like inspecting or installing tubes underground or navigating inside the human body for medical purposes.

Current soft-growing robots leave a trail of solid material behind them. They can use heat and pressure to turn that material into a more permanent structure, similar to how a 3D printer uses solid filament to make a shape. But it gets harder to pull the trail of solid material around turns and bends. As a result, it makes it hard for the robots to move through areas with obstacles or paths that curve.

The team from the University of Minnesota solved this problem by coming up with a new way to use extrusion, which is when something is pushed through an opening to make a specific shape. With this new method, the robot can make its artificial material from a liquid instead of a solid.

Plants use water to move the tiny building blocks that become solid roots as the plant grows. Using a method called photopolymerization, which uses light to turn liquid monomers into a solid material, the researchers made a synthetic material that worked the same way. With this technology, the soft robot can move around obstacles and winding paths more quickly and doesn't have to drag anything solid behind it.

We can also use this new method in making things. Since the technique only uses liquid and light, it might not be necessary to use heat, pressure, and expensive machinery to create and shape materials.