Soft robot technology is often considered to be robots without ‘bones’, which can move and manipulate thanks to their rubbery ‘skeletons’. But forget the bones, award-winning mechanical engineer Koichi Suzumori from the Tokyo Institute of Technology is more interested in the muscles. As one of the leaders and pioneers in the development of thin McKibben pneumatic artificial muscles and their application in soft robotics, Suzumori aims to bring big benefits to such fields as nursing care, medicine, and search and rescue. Suzumori’s Tokyo team has developed artificial muscle fibres which contract and expand in response to an electric, pneumatic or other stimulus – and move in ways similar to their biological counterparts. A bundle of rubber tubes are covered with a mesh made of a strong synthetic fibre. Approximately 400 tubes can be bandied together, with air sent through each tube to make them contract, reproducing the movements of hamstrings and muscles around the knee.