KAIST Team Develops Artificial Material That Grasps Objects With Light

TechXplore reported on Sept. 29, 2026, that a KAIST research team had developed an ionic soft material called “Ionograsper” that senses approaching objects and bends to grasp them under ultraviolet light.

According to KAIST, the material combines object detection and grasping in a single material and retains its shape for more than 10 minutes after the light is switched off. If it can reduce the number of components and wires in soft robots, the practical question is how much it can simplify their design. The article, however, does not provide grip strength or durability at the level of a working robot. The next question is whether the material’s properties at the research stage can meet the requirements of an actual robotic hand.

The key point appears to be less about enhancing a robotic hand’s functions than about challenging the assumption that sensing and grasping must be handled by separate components. By giving a single ionic material two functions—detecting an approaching object and grasping it under ultraviolet light—the research points to a way to limit the growth in wiring and component count that is often an issue in soft robots. What the article describes, however, is an advance at the material level; whether it can be reliably replicated in a working hand is a separate question. A related article from this newspaper, KAIST’s PIBOT humanoid piloting robot wins the IEEE RAM 2025 Best Paper Award, reported on KAIST’s presence in research on robot control and hardware design. Unlike that work, Ionograsper embodies sensing and movement in the material itself rather than in a control algorithm, addressing a different layer of robotics. In other words, KAIST’s research is advancing on both the “brain” and “body” sides, and this project is best understood as an effort to simplify the design of the body. The industry implications are that greater integration of components in soft robots could prompt a rethink of designs built around separate sensors, actuators and wiring. The article does not, however, specify durability, response speed, stability during repeated operation or actual grip strength. The next thing to determine is whether the material remains a laboratory demonstration or can meet the performance requirements for use in a robotic hand. See the original source for details.