Skip to main content

Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

3 comments

This Ultra-Soft “Yarn” Actuator Fiber Moves Like Living Tissue Could Power Future Robots

Imagine a robot that moves not with rigid metal parts but with soft fibers as thin as a human hair. These fibers can bend, twist, contract, and create smooth three-dimensional motion—much like muscles in the human body. This futuristic concept is now becoming reality thanks to a new breakthrough by researchers at Tohoku University and their international collaborators.

The research team has developed an ultrafine “soft yarn” actuator fiber that can move when electricity is applied. The technology could help build safer soft robots, flexible wearable devices, and advanced medical technologies that interact gently with the human body.

The findings of this study were published in the scientific journal ACS Omega, marking an important step toward the next generation of soft robotics and wearable technologies.

A New Direction for Soft Robotics

Soft robotics is an emerging field focused on building machines that are flexible and adaptable rather than rigid. Unlike traditional robots made from hard metals and mechanical joints, soft robots use materials that can stretch, bend, and deform. This makes them much safer for interacting with people.

A key component of these systems is something called a soft actuator. Actuators are materials or devices that convert energy—such as electricity—into movement. In simple terms, actuators act like artificial muscles that make robotic systems move.

However, many existing actuators have limitations. Most rely on metallic materials such as shape-memory alloys, which change shape when heated. While these materials can generate motion, they are usually stiff and heavy. They also often require complex activation methods, such as heating elements or magnetic fields.

These characteristics make them less suitable for applications where softness, flexibility, and safety are critical—such as wearable devices or medical robotics.

The Idea Behind the Soft Yarn Actuator

To solve these problems, an international research team led by Associate Professor Yuanyuan Guo at Tohoku University developed a completely different approach.

Instead of metal components, they created an actuator made from a flexible polymer fiber. This fiber behaves like a soft thread that can move in multiple directions when electricity is applied.

One of the most remarkable aspects of the device is its size. The actuator fibers are about the thickness of a human hair, making them extremely lightweight and flexible.

Despite their tiny size, these fibers can produce a variety of complex motions, including:

  • Bending

  • Contracting

  • Twisting

  • Wave-like movements in three dimensions

This ability to generate complex motion from such a thin fiber opens up many possibilities for advanced robotics and wearable technologies.

Borrowing Technology From Optical Fiber Manufacturing

To create these actuator fibers, the researchers used a manufacturing method originally designed for making optical fibers. The technique is known as thermal drawing.

In thermal drawing, a large piece of material called a preform is heated until it becomes soft. The material is then carefully stretched and pulled into extremely thin fibers while maintaining its internal structure.

This technique is widely used in telecommunications to produce optical fibers that carry internet data across the world. The research team adapted this method to produce soft actuator fibers instead.

By carefully optimizing the drawing process, they were able to create fibers that remained soft, flexible, and functional even after being stretched to microscopic thickness.

The Role of Thermoplastic Polyurethane

At the core of the new actuator fiber is a material called thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU).

TPU is a highly flexible polymer commonly used in products that require both durability and elasticity, such as:

  • Phone cases

  • Medical tubing

  • Flexible cables

  • Sports equipment

In this research, TPU was used as a dielectric elastomer. This type of material changes its shape when exposed to an electric field.

When voltage is applied to the fiber, the electric field causes the material to deform. This deformation produces movement, allowing the fiber to bend, stretch, or twist.

Because TPU is naturally soft and elastic, the resulting actuator behaves more like rubber or biological tissue rather than rigid machinery.

One of the Softest Fiber Actuators Ever Created

According to Associate Professor Guo, the new actuator is among the thinnest and softest electrically driven fibers ever developed.

Because the actuator behaves like a thread, it can be integrated into many flexible structures with ease.

For example, the fibers can be:

  • Woven into fabrics

  • Knitted into smart textiles

  • Wrapped into spiral shapes

  • Embedded into three-dimensional structures

This flexibility allows engineers to design systems that move in ways that flat or bulky actuators cannot achieve.

Perfect for Wearable Technology

One of the most exciting applications of this technology is in wearable robotics.

Wearable robotic systems—sometimes called exosuits—are designed to assist human movement. They can help people walk, lift objects, or recover from injuries.

However, traditional wearable robots often contain rigid mechanical components that can feel uncomfortable or unsafe when worn on the body.

The new fiber actuators solve this problem because they are soft, lightweight, and highly flexible. They can conform naturally to the shape of the body without causing discomfort.

Potential wearable applications include:

  • Smart clothing that assists muscle movement

  • Rehabilitation devices for physical therapy

  • Medical compression garments that adjust automatically

  • Soft robotic gloves that help restore hand movement

Because the fibers move smoothly and gently, they could interact safely with human skin and muscles.

Enabling Safer Human–Robot Interaction

Another advantage of soft actuator fibers is improved safety.

Traditional robots are powerful but rigid. If they accidentally collide with a person, they can cause injury. Soft robots, on the other hand, are designed to deform and absorb impact.

The thread-like actuators developed by the researchers could help create robots that are inherently safer when operating near humans.

For example, soft robotic systems using these fibers could be used in:

  • Elderly care robots

  • Assistive devices for people with disabilities

  • Human-friendly industrial robots

  • Medical tools used inside the body

The gentle nature of the materials makes them well suited for situations where safety and comfort are essential.

Expanding the Technology in the Future

Although the current results are promising, the researchers believe the technology can be improved even further.

Their future work will focus on enhancing the performance of the actuator fibers by:

  • Developing better electrode materials

  • Improving the internal structure of the fibers

  • Increasing the strength and responsiveness of the motion

In addition, the team plans to integrate multiple functions into the same fiber platform.

For instance, future versions of the fibers may include:

  • Built-in sensors to detect movement or pressure

  • Fluidic channels that allow liquids or gases to pass through

  • Smart systems that combine sensing and movement in a single fiber

This could lead to multifunctional fibers that behave almost like living tissues, sensing their surroundings and responding with motion.

A Step Toward Body-Conforming Robotics

The ultimate goal of this research is to develop gentle, body-conforming robotic technologies that seamlessly integrate with humans.

Imagine clothing that can assist your muscles during exercise, soft medical devices that adapt to your body, or robots that move with the flexibility of living organisms.

The new yarn-like actuator fibers represent an important step toward that future.

By combining advanced fiber manufacturing with soft electroactive materials, the researchers have demonstrated a new way to build robotic systems that are not only powerful but also soft, safe, and human-friendly.

As this technology continues to evolve, it could transform the way robots interact with people—moving from rigid machines to flexible partners that work naturally alongside us.

Reference: Yuto Akimoto et al, Thermally Drawn Soft Dielectric Elastomer Actuator Fibers, ACS Omega (2026). DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.5c09586

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular

Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

For years, scientists believed that adding even one qubit (a unit of quantum information) to a black hole needed energy. This was based on the idea that a black hole’s entropy must increase with more information, which means it must gain energy. But a new study by Jonah Kudler-Flam and Geoff Penington changes that thinking. They found that quantum information can be teleported into a black hole without adding energy or increasing entropy . This works through a process called black hole decoherence , where “soft” radiation — very low-energy signals — carry information into the black hole. In their method, the qubit enters the black hole while a new pair of entangled particles (like Hawking radiation) is created. This keeps the total information balanced, so there's no violation of the laws of physics. The energy cost only shows up when information is erased from the outside — these are called zerobits . According to Landauer’s principle, erasing information always needs energy. But ...
3 comments
Read more

Black Holes That Never Dies

Black holes are powerful objects in space with gravity so strong that nothing can escape them. In the 1970s, Stephen Hawking showed that black holes can slowly lose energy by giving off tiny particles. This process is called Hawking radiation . Over time, the black hole gets smaller and hotter, and in the end, it disappears completely. But new research by Menezes and his team shows something different. Using a theory called Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG) , they studied black holes with quantum corrections. In their model, the black hole does not vanish completely. Instead, it stops shrinking when it reaches a very small size. This leftover is called a black hole remnant . They also studied something called grey-body factors , which affect how much energy escapes from a black hole. Their findings show that the black hole cools down and stops losing mass once it reaches a minimum mass . This new model removes the idea of a “singularity” at the center of the black hole and gives us a better ...
Post a Comment
Read more

How Planetary Movements Might Explain Sunspot Cycles and Solar Phenomena

Sunspots, dark patches on the Sun's surface, follow a cycle of increasing and decreasing activity every 11 years. For years, scientists have relied on the dynamo model to explain this cycle. According to this model, the Sun's magnetic field is generated by the movement of plasma and the Sun's rotation. However, this model does not fully explain why the sunspot cycle is sometimes unpredictable. Lauri Jetsu, a researcher, has proposed a new approach. Jetsu’s analysis, using a method called the Discrete Chi-square Method (DCM), suggests that planetary movements, especially those of Earth, Jupiter, and Mercury, play a key role in driving the sunspot cycle. His theory focuses on Flux Transfer Events (FTEs), where the magnetic fields of these planets interact with the Sun’s magnetic field. These interactions could create the sunspots and explain other solar phenomena like the Sun’s magnetic polarity reversing every 11 years. The Sun, our closest star, has been a subject of scient...
Post a Comment
Read more