Humanoid robots look impressive and have enormous potential to change our daily lives, but they still have a reputation for being clunky. They’re also heavy and stiff, and if they fall, they can easily break and injure people around them.

But that could be about to change. Researchers at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUST) in Shenzhen have unveiled a soft humanoid robot that can change its size, squeeze through spaces, and even walk on water. The key to this outstanding flexibility is a system the team developed called GrowHR. The research, published in Science Advances, describes how the robot was inspired by the way human bones develop.