Soft Robotics
in Unstructured Environments 

Overview

Unstructured environments, whether inside the human body or in the deep ocean, demand robotic systems that are inherently compliant, adaptive, and resilient. Soft robots, built from deformable materials and capable of morphology-driven behavior, offer a powerful alternative to rigid machines by enabling safe physical interaction, environmental adaptability, and embodied intelligence.

This workshop explores how soft robotic principles translate across extreme scales and conditions—from targeted drug delivery and in-vivo tissue monitoring to autonomous underwater navigation and subsea infrastructure interactions.

Our Mission:

• Bridge the Gap: Identify universal soft-robotic design principles that translate from small-scale medical interventions to large-scale deep-sea exploration.

• Advance Material Intelligence: Explore how adaptive morphologies can offload computational complexity in fluidic and extreme environments.

• Catalyze Collaboration: Provide a structured forum where experts in soft materials, biology, and field robotics can define the next decade of resilient robotics.