Soft electronics and soft robots are valued for their flexibility and ability to adapt to complex environments. Yet, once fabricated and deployed, their structures, functions, and movements are often difficult to change. In many real-world settings—such as confined spaces, hazardous areas, disaster sites, remote field locations, and extraterrestrial environments—physically accessing a device or robot to modify, retrieve, or deactivate it may be impractical.
A research team has now developed an elastomeric composite that can rapidly decompose at selected locations when exposed to laser light. The laser generates localized photothermal heating, triggering chemical decomposition and converting the solid elastomer into liquid residues. This light-driven process enables material removal precisely where it is needed, without direct physical contact.
Importantly, the decomposition can be activated remotely from distances of up to 5 m and requires substantially less energy than conventional approaches used to decompose pristine elastomers. Rather than relying on bulky heating equipment, mechanical cutting, or direct wiring, the system uses remotely delivered light to initiate transformation on demand.
The researchers demonstrated two key applications. First, they selectively erased soft electronic devices, offering a potential route for secure information removal and controlled device termination. Second, they reconfigured the shape and motion of soft robots in real time, allowing the robots to adapt to and overcome challenging terrain.
The approach could be particularly valuable where resources, access, or physical intervention are limited. For example, a soft robotic system could alter its geometry to pass through narrow gaps, detach an unnecessary component to reduce weight, or safely terminate its operation after completing a mission. In space exploration and planetary-surface applications, including future missions to Mars, laser-triggered transformation may be especially attractive because light can deliver energy remotely without requiring direct contact, material transfer, or complex onboard mechanisms.
By turning targeted destruction into a functional design tool, this work presents a simple but powerful strategy for creating soft systems that can not only operate, but also adapt, reconfigure, and disappear when needed.
The work entitled “
Laser-triggerable elastomeric composites for soft electronics and robotics” was published in
Soft Science (published on Jun. 12, 2026).
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