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

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This Strange New Material Can “Feel” Objects and Grab Them Like a Venus Flytrap

Nature has developed remarkably efficient ways to sense the world and respond to it. One striking example is the Venus flytrap, a plant that can detect stimulation and rapidly close its leaves to capture prey. Inspired by this simple but powerful mechanism, researchers at KAIST have developed a soft material that combines sensing and movement in a single structure.

Called the “Ionograsper,” the new ionic soft robot can detect nearby electrically charged objects without touching them and then bend to grasp them when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light. Even more interestingly, it can maintain its deformed shape for more than 10 minutes after the light is switched off.

The research could offer a new approach to building soft robots with fewer electronic components, sensors, actuators and wires.

A Robot That Combines Skin and Muscle

Traditional robots usually need different systems for sensing and movement. Sensors act like a robot's skin, detecting objects and changes in the environment, while motors or actuators act more like muscles, generating movement.

This separation can become a problem in soft robotics. Unlike conventional machines made from rigid materials, soft robots are designed to bend, stretch and deform. Attaching separate sensors, actuators and control components can make their structures more complicated and require additional wiring.

The KAIST team, led by Professor Hong Chul Moon from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, took a different approach.

Instead of giving the robot separate sensing and movement systems, they created a single soft polymer material capable of performing several functions.

The resulting Ionograsper can sense a nearby object, move toward it and temporarily retain its new shape.

How Does the Material Sense an Object?

The key to the technology is an ionic polymer containing mobile ions.

Ions are tiny particles carrying either positive or negative electrical charges. Inside the material developed by the researchers, these ions can move through a network within the polymer.

The team combined two important components: azobenzene, a molecule that changes its shape when exposed to light, and a hygroscopic polymer that can absorb moisture from the surrounding air.

Together, they create a material in which ions can move and redistribute.

When an electrically charged object approaches the Ionograsper, it produces an electric field around itself. This field affects the ions inside the material, causing the positive and negative ions to redistribute.

That redistribution produces an electrical signal.

Importantly, the material does not need to physically touch the object to detect it. It can therefore function as a type of proximity sensor.

The researchers were also able to detect the approach and movement of objects without applying a separate sensing voltage.

This is significant because conventional electronic sensors generally require additional components and connections. Here, the material itself performs the sensing function.

UV Light Makes It Bend and Grab

Detecting an object is only half of the challenge. The material also needs to move.

For this, the researchers used UV light.

The material contains azobenzene molecules that change their molecular configuration when they absorb light. At the same time, UV irradiation causes moisture to escape from the illuminated side of the material.

Because moisture is distributed unevenly across the structure, one side changes differently from the other. This imbalance causes the material to bend toward the light.

The researchers can use this bending motion to make the soft material wrap around and grasp an object.

In other words, the same material can first detect an approaching charged object and then physically respond to it when activated by light.

It Keeps Its Shape After the Light Turns Off

One of the most unusual features of the Ionograsper is what happens after the UV light is removed.

Normally, a light-powered material might immediately return to its original shape once the stimulus disappears. But the Ionograsper behaves differently.

After UV irradiation, nanoscale pores form on the surface of the material. When the light is switched off, moisture gradually re-enters through these pores.

This causes the material to bend in the opposite direction. However, the polymer structure does not immediately return to its original configuration.

Instead, it can retain its deformed shape for more than 10 minutes, while the internal polymer structure slowly relaxes.

That means the UV light does not have to remain continuously switched on to keep the material in its grasping position.

For soft robotics, this could be particularly useful because maintaining a position without continuously consuming energy can simplify system design.

Three Functions in One Material

The most important aspect of the research is that three different functions are combined into one soft material.

The Ionograsper can:

  • Sense nearby electrically charged objects.

  • Move when exposed to UV light.

  • Retain its deformed shape after the light is removed.

The researchers also investigated how changes at the molecular level and changes in moisture content produce the material's bending behavior.

This provides a better understanding of how the material can bend in different directions and temporarily maintain its new shape.

Rather than connecting a separate sensor to a separate artificial muscle, the researchers created a material that performs several roles itself.

Potential for Future Soft Robots

The technology could eventually contribute to soft robotic hands and other flexible machines that need to interact with objects.

A conventional soft robotic hand may require multiple sensors, motors, wires and control systems. Reducing these components could potentially make future robots simpler and more compact.

The approach could also be useful for physical AI robots, where machines need to sense and physically interact with their surroundings.

However, the Ionograsper is still a research-stage technology and has several limitations.

At present, it responds to electrically charged objects and requires UV light for actuation. The researchers want to improve its sensing distance, movement speed, durability and ability to carry heavier loads.

They also hope to make the material respond to visible light or near-infrared light, which could provide more practical ways of controlling it.

A New Direction for Soft Robotics

Professor Hong Chul Moon described the team's approach as creating a single material that combines the functions of a robot's skin and muscles.

The researchers now plan to combine the technology with AI control systems and explore its use as an integrated sensing and actuation material for physical AI robots.

The Venus flytrap inspired the basic idea: detect a stimulus and respond with movement. But instead of using biological cells and muscles, the Ionograsper achieves these functions through ions, polymers, light and changes in moisture.

If the technology can overcome its current limitations, it could help researchers build soft robots with fewer components and less wiring—bringing machines a little closer to the way living systems naturally combine sensing and movement.

Reference: Yong Min Kim et al., A Multifunctional Ionograsper Enabling Ion‐Redistribution Proximity Sensing and Structural‐Reconfiguration‐Driven Bidirectional Actuation, Advanced Materials (2026), DOI: 10.1002/adma.74981.

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