News
Scientists develop “soft valve” to enable human flesh-like robots
The field of soft robotics has achieved some impressive feats in recent years, meaning we are well on our way to life-like robots that possess the very flesh that distinguishes us from our mechanical brethren. Squishy worms, claws, and octopus arms are a few of the machines in development, but they all still have “hard” parts comprising their inner mechanics. Currently, the valves controlling air pressures to manipulate the bots’ movements are rigid, off-the-shelf components. Now, thanks to a new technology created by scientists at the Professor George Whitesides lab at Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University, a squishy valve enabling soft robots is available.
Standard hard pneumatic valves help control the movement of soft robots by pushing air (in most cases) into chambers as directed by the device’s operator or programming. A network of tubes or air bladders are built throughout the robot’s appendages, filling or emptying as needed to effect the desired motion. To provide a soft alternative to the rigid components, there are two concepts the new soft valves were driven by: 1) a fleshy membrane that stretches in two directions, similar to a ‘popper’ vending machine toy; and 2) a soft hose that controls air flow by kinking, similar to how bending a garden hose restricts its water flow.
Soft robots are typically made from silicone. With that in mind, doctoral student Philipp Rothemund and postdoctoral fellow Daniel Preston built their valve into a silicone cylinder, separating it into upper and lower chambers. Each chamber contained soft tubes that would kink depending on whether the membrane was stretched in their direction. As air filled one chamber, the membrane would stretch and kink the air hose in the opposite chamber, shutting off the air flow and thus fulfilling the valve functionality needed for soft robots to work as already designed.
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- The soft valve developed for soft robots. | Credit: Harvard University
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- The soft valve developed for soft robots. | Credit: Harvard University
Soft robots are generally designed to imitate functionality found in living organisms. The ability for hands to grip, for example, seems simple, but without specific data to work with, robots cannot easily repeat that same functionality, nor with the same amount of agility. Adding the ‘soft’ factor provides flexibility and adaptability. Fleshy materials can conform to objects better than rigid ones, enhancing grip, and their shapes can be pushed or pulled, capabilities that are useful for maneuvering in small spaces or preventing major damage from, say, being run over by a vehicle.
As the soft robotics field expands in its development, we can look forward to new solutions in medicine, operational safety, and tasks otherwise difficult for humans to do without high cost, time, or damage considerations. For example, tubing styled after octopus tentacles could maneuver throughout the body during a surgery, minimizing its invasiveness. One could also imagine a search and rescue soft bot pushing through crevices in rubble to find victims of natural disasters.
Combined with advancements in sensor technologies, we could also see fleshy robots that look, feel, and have a sense of touch like ours. On the plus side, robot hugs might actually feel genuine, and robotic workers could operate in outside environments that lack the precision their rigid counterparts need to function properly. Unfortunately, the down sides are plentiful, and movie studios worldwide have entertained us with numerous cyborg dystopias already.
Watch the below video to see the soft valve in action:
Tesla Robotaxi ride-hailing without a Safety Monitor is proving to be a difficult task, according to some riders who made the journey to Austin to attempt to ride in one of its vehicles that has zero supervision.
Last week, Tesla officially removed Safety Monitors from some — not all — of its Robotaxi vehicles in Austin, Texas, answering skeptics who said the vehicles still needed supervision to operate safely and efficiently.
BREAKING: Tesla launches public Robotaxi rides in Austin with no Safety Monitor
Tesla aimed to remove Safety Monitors before the end of 2025, and it did, but only to company employees. It made the move last week to open the rides to the public, just a couple of weeks late to its original goal, but the accomplishment was impressive, nonetheless.
However, the small number of Robotaxis that are operating without Safety Monitors has proven difficult to hail for a ride. David Moss, who has gained notoriety recently as the person who has traveled over 10,000 miles in his Tesla on Full Self-Driving v14 without any interventions, made it to Austin last week.
He has tried to get a ride in a Safety Monitor-less Robotaxi for the better part of four days, and after 38 attempts, he still has yet to grab one:
Wow just wow!
It’s 8:30PM, 29° out ice storm hailing & Tesla Robotaxi service has turned back on!
Waymo is offline & vast majority of humans are home in the storm
Ride 38 was still supervised but by far most impressive yet pic.twitter.com/1aUnJkcYm8
— David Moss (@DavidMoss) January 25, 2026
Tesla said last week that it was rolling out a controlled test of the Safety Monitor-less Robotaxis. Ashok Elluswamy, who heads the AI program at Tesla, confirmed that the company was “starting with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader Robotaxi fleet with Safety Monitors,” and that “the ratio will increase over time.”
This is a good strategy that prioritizes safety and keeps the company’s controlled rollout at the forefront of the Robotaxi rollout.
However, it will be interesting to see how quickly the company can scale these completely monitor-less rides. It has proven to be extremely difficult to get one, but that is understandable considering only a handful of the cars in the entire Austin fleet are operating with no supervision within the vehicle.
Tesla has given its biggest hint that Full Self-Driving in Europe is imminent, as a new feature seems to show that the company is preparing for frequent border crossings.
Tesla owner and influencer BLKMDL3, also known as Zack, recently took his Tesla to the border of California and Mexico at Tijuana, and at the international crossing, Full Self-Driving showed an interesting message: “Upcoming country border — FSD (Supervised) will become unavailable.”
FSD now shows a new message when approaching an international border crossing.
Stayed engaged the whole way as we crossed the border and worked great in Mexico! pic.twitter.com/bDzyLnyq0g
— Zack (@BLKMDL3) January 26, 2026
Due to regulatory approvals, once a Tesla operating on Full Self-Driving enters a new country, it is required to comply with the laws and regulations that are applicable to that territory. Even if legal, it seems Tesla will shut off FSD temporarily, confirming it is in a location where operation is approved.
This is something that will be extremely important in Europe, as crossing borders there is like crossing states in the U.S.; it’s pretty frequent compared to life in America, Canada, and Mexico.
Tesla has been working to get FSD approved in Europe for several years, and it has been getting close to being able to offer it to owners on the continent. However, it is still working through a lot of the red tape that is necessary for European regulators to approve use of the system on their continent.
This feature seems to be one that would be extremely useful in Europe, considering the fact that crossing borders into other countries is much more frequent than here in the U.S., and would cater to an area where approvals would differ.
Tesla has been testing FSD in Spain, France, England, and other European countries, and plans to continue expanding this effort. European owners have been fighting for a very long time to utilize the functionality, but the red tape has been the biggest bottleneck in the process.
Tesla Europe builds momentum with expanding FSD demos and regional launches
Tesla operates Full Self-Driving in the United States, China, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.
Elon Musk
SpaceX Starship V3 gets launch date update from Elon Musk
The first flight of Starship Version 3 and its new Raptor V3 engines could happen as early as March.
Elon Musk has announced that SpaceX’s next Starship launch, Flight 12, is expected in about six weeks. This suggests that the first flight of Starship Version 3 and its new Raptor V3 engines could happen as early as March.
In a post on X, Elon Musk stated that the next Starship launch is in six weeks. He accompanied his announcement with a photo that seemed to have been taken when Starship’s upper stage was just about to separate from the Super Heavy Booster. Musk did not state whether SpaceX will attempt to catch the Super Heavy Booster during the upcoming flight.
The upcoming flight will mark the debut of Starship V3. The upgraded design includes the new Raptor V3 engine, which is expected to have nearly twice the thrust of the original Raptor 1, at a fraction of the cost and with significantly reduced weight. The Starship V3 platform is also expected to be optimized for manufacturability.
The Starship V3 Flight 12 launch timeline comes as SpaceX pursues an aggressive development cadence for the fully reusable launch system. Previous iterations of Starship have racked up a mixed but notable string of test flights, including multiple integrated flight tests in 2025.
Interestingly enough, SpaceX has teased an aggressive timeframe for Starship V3’s first flight. Way back in late November, SpaceX noted on X that it will be aiming to launch Starship V3’s maiden flight in the first quarter of 2026. This was despite setbacks like a structural anomaly on the first V3 booster during ground testing.
“Starship’s twelfth flight test remains targeted for the first quarter of 2026,” the company wrote in its post on X.
Tesla Robotaxi ride-hailing without a Safety Monitor proves to be difficult
Tesla gives its biggest hint that Full Self-Driving in Europe is imminent
