Rough and rigid robotic arms were not only unable to handle delicate work but also disliked by many. This is why new breed of developers including Empire Robotics and Pneubotics are developing much softer arms. They don’t have electronics components but still grip delicate items such as a bulb due to softer grip connected to a hard robot. Some are even testing pumped air into the robotic arm to provider softer touch. Vinyl material containing veins that hold air, water and hydraulic fluids that work like muscles are connected to motors instead of more rigid parts to provide the softer touch.

New breed of robotic companies are working on gently handling sick patients, pull bricks at a disaster site to save an injured person, and even safely place an elderly on a bed. The United States government is also supporting some of these efforts through the U. S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Some estimates that the robotics market worth more than $10 billion a year and many startup companies getting into the fray. Not just the hardware developers, software to run gentler robots are also increasing their efforts to come up with programs to run these robots.