A Korean research team has developed a light-powered artificial muscle that operates freely underwater, paving the way for next-generation soft robotics.

The research team—Dr. Hyun Kim at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Prof. Habeom Lee at Pusan National University, and Prof. Taylor H. Ware at Texas A&M University—successfully developed artificial muscles based on azobenzene-functionalized semicrystalline liquid crystal elastomers (AC-LCEs) that actuate in response to light.

The work has been published in the journal Small.