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However, existing purely soft and rigid designs suffer from inherent defects, such as low load capacity and compliance, respectively, restricting their functionality and performance. Here, we report new soft-rigid hybrid miniature robots applying the tensegrity principle, inspired by biological organisms\u2019 remarkable multifunctionality through tensegrity micro-structures. The miniature robot\u2019s speed of 25.07 body lengths per second is advanced among published miniature robots and tensegrity robots. The design versatility is demonstrated by constructing three bio-inspired robots using miniature tensegrity joints. Due to its internal load-transfer mechanisms, the robot has self-adaptability, deformability, and high impact resistance (withstand dynamic load 143,868 times the robot weight), enabling the robot to navigate diverse barriers, pipelines, and channels. The robot can vary its stiffness to greatly improve load capacity and motion performance. We further demonstrate the potential biomedical applications, such as drug delivery, impurity removal, and remote heating achieved by integrating metal into the robot.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1089\/soro.2024.0178","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,4,15]],"date-time":"2025-04-15T13:51:28Z","timestamp":1744725088000},"page":"676-686","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Untethered Miniature Tensegrity Robot with Tunable Stiffness for High-Speed and Adaptive Locomotion"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5442-8040","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bingxing","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhiyu","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fang","family":"Ye","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yi","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wenhu","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fuhui","family":"Ding","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dan","family":"Gao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mathematics and Science, Fujian Jiangxia University, Fuzhou, China."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yi","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zongxing","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chao","family":"Jia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, China."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_6_2_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/scirobotics.abm8597"},{"key":"e_1_3_6_3_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-024-48058-x"},{"key":"e_1_3_6_4_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/scirobotics.adh8170"},{"key":"e_1_3_6_5_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s44222-024-00156-7"},{"key":"e_1_3_6_6_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/sciadv.adg4501"},{"key":"e_1_3_6_7_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TII.2019.2913762"},{"key":"e_1_3_6_8_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41596-023-00916-6"},{"key":"e_1_3_6_9_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/nature25443"},{"key":"e_1_3_6_10_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-023-38689-x"},{"key":"e_1_3_6_11_2","volume-title":"Tensegrity Systems","author":"Skelton RE","year":"2009","unstructured":"Skelton RE, , De Oliveira MC. 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