While the current generation of industrial robots is primarily made of metal, the research community has been getting interested in the potential for soft-bodied robots. These have a number of advantages, such as being easy to customize via 3D printing and providing a flexibility that lets them squeeze through tight spaces.

Many of the research demonstrations created so far, however, have had to make some compromises. For some iterations, this has meant the control hardware and power sources have been kept separate, connected to the robot via a tether. For other attempts, this has meant the final product is a mixture of hard and soft pieces.

In today’s issue of Nature, however, researchers are reporting the creation of a soft-bodied robot that carries its own fuel supply, which powers the robot through an on-board chemical reaction. Soft, flexible on-board logic then directs the reaction products to control the movement of the robot. While the result is pretty limited in what it can do, its creators make up for that with a certain cool factor, making their creation look a lot like an octopus.