https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190115121114.htm > In search of stiffness-tunable materials that help increase the load capacity of soft robotic systems without sacrificing their compliance during robot-object interaction, thermally activated shape memory polymers (SMPs) stand out as a promising candidate. Not only are SMPs capable of reversibly changing stiffness by two to three orders of magnitude, they are also compatible with 3D printing. However, thus far it has been reported that SMP-based soft actuators generally suffer from limitations such as slow responses, small deformations and difficulties in automated fabrications with microfeatures. > Researchers from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) recently proposed a paradigm to use finite-element simulations and hybrid multimaterial 3D printing to design and manufacture fast-response, stiffness-tunable (FRST) soft actuators which are able to complete a softening-stiffening cycle within 32 seconds.