Can robots ever learn to feel? Our ability to perform delicate tasks, like giving a gentle hug or picking a piece of fruit, is something that robots can't yet mimic.Ryan Truby, an alum of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has created bioinspired soft robots that can squish, stretch, and feel their way around the world - and they have the potential to change how we understand robotics.

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The Veritalk Team:

Host/Producer: Anna Fisher-Pinkert

Sound Designer: Ian Coss

Logo: Emily Crowell

Executive Producer: Ann Hall

Special thanks to Ryan Truby and Jennifer Lewis. Ryan Truby’s research is supported by the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, National Science Foundation through the Harvard MRSEC, the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and the Schmidt Science Fellows program, in partnership with the Rhodes Trust.