When will robots walk through our doors, cook our meals, and potentially steal our identities? Yoseph Bar-Cohen surveys the frontier of electroactive polymers, biomimetic actuators, and the ethical minefield of human-like machines that could one day be indistinguishable from us.

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Bar-Cohen frames biomimetics as a field that touches everything from clothing inspired by spider silk to drills modeled on gophers. His current work spans bioinspired drilling systems and legged rovers designed to climb steep terrain on other planets, drawing inspiration from mountain goats. He highlights the octopus as a particularly fascinating model organism, noting its ability to squeeze through narrow spaces, camouflage itself, and manipulate objects with soft tentacles. Replicating th ...