Soft robotics has emerged as a transformative paradigm in modern robotics. Its inherent multi-degree-of-freedom control capability enables complex three-dimensional deformations and diverse locomotion modes, thereby allowing the execution of sophisticated tasks. However, existing soft robotic systems largely depend on external hardware-based control architectures or human cognitive input for task command generation and interpretation. The robots themselves generally lack integrated capabilities for information storage and transmission, preventing them from guiding operators on what tasks to perform and how to execute them. This limitation restricts their task adaptability and operational reliability in complex environments. Therefore, developing an all-soft robotic architecture with an embedded information management center capable of guiding operators represents a crucial pathway toward enhancing the interactivity and autonomy of soft robotic systems.

In a new paper published in Light: Science & Applications, a team of scientists, led by Professor Yan-Qing Lu from National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Key Laboratory of Intelligent Optical Sensing and Manipulation, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, China, have developed an optically interactive soft robotic system that utilizes LC computational holography for optical command processing and decision-making. At its core, liquid crystal networks (LCNs) embedded with phase holograms function as a centralized information management unit. By integrating the functional properties of LCNs with silk fibroin (SF), the system achieves a synergy of multi-degree-of-freedom actuation and information multiplexing. This architecture establishes a multifunctional optical platform that seamlessly unites optical storage, information encryption, visual feedback, and on-demand actuation. As proof of concept, they showcase an intelligent gripper capable of precise, on-demand grasping and object classification guided by an integrated holographic instruction. Finally, they demonstrate the successful navigation of a walking robot through a maze, following a multi-level encrypted holographic pathway.

The LCN holography proposed in this paper represents a conceptual innovation. By designing LC superstructure-based hologram interfaces, soft robots could on-demand store precise task commands or environmental mapping information and enable human-robot interaction via optical feedback, thus effectively addressing the current limitations in onboard information processing within soft robotic platforms.

“By leveraging the unique combination of liquid crystal and silk fibroin,” the researchers say, this system achieves a unified approach combining actuation and information processing within soft-matter design. “This system creates a closed-loop framework for integrating command encoding, data encryption, visual display, and on-demand execution,” facilitating sophisticated task performance. The researchers note the holographic component functions “as an information-integration unit analogous to the central nervous system in biological organisms.”

“By leveraging the inherent biocompatibility of programmable liquid crystal polymers and multifunctional biopolymers,” the team envisions expanded applications in bio-hybrid robotics. They forecast that “as LC holography advances toward higher resolution, real-time dynamics, and multidimensional control, the optical intelligence of soft robots will undergo a substantial evolution.”

Journal: Light: Science & Applications
DOI: 10.1038/s41377-026-02287-5
Article Title: All-in-one optically interactive soft robots with embedded liquid crystal holography
Article Publication Date: 6-Jul-2026
Funding: National Key R&D Program of China; National Natural Science Foundation of China; Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province
Institution: Nanjing University, China

Source: EurekAlert

Featured image credit: Luco Buise