Programmable Lego-Like Material Emulates Life’s Flexibility

This is a summary of a story that originally appeared on the Pratt School of Engineering. Mechanical engineers at Duke University have made a breakthrough in programmable materials that can be assembled a bit like Lego blocks, only far more advanced. Their new system allows solid structures to shift their mechanical properties on command, paving the way to creating robots that can adapt their stiffness and flexibility in real time to be used for a range of fields, from health to robotics. The concept centers on hundreds of tiny cells filled with a gallium-iron composite. At room