# Magnetic hydrogel soft robots with dual programming tested in a pig model for gastric ulcer therapy

- Published: 2026-11-07 20:20 UTC
- Section: Machines & Making › Robots
- Tags: magnetic soft robot, hydrogel soft robot, dual programming, pH-responsive robot, gastric ulcer therapy, capsule endoscopy, microneedle penetration, pig model, cargo delivery
- URL: https://realtech.media/news/rt-95aa9952f64fc5dc4ca0a130_magnetic_hydrogel_soft/

**Authors combined magnetic and anisotropic programming in hydrogel soft robots; a prototype ring-shaped pH-responsive version was explored with capsule endoscopy in a pig model.**

![Magnetic hydrogel soft robots with dual programming tested in a pig model for gastric ulcer therapy](https://realtech.media/media/2026/11/12a42be452c224c5.jpg)
*Hdehqani, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0*

Researchers reported dual-programming hydrogel-based soft robots (DHSRs) in Science Advances. The robots couple magnetic and anisotropic programming by arranging patterned magnetic skeletons inside responsive and structural hydrogel bodies [1]. According to the authors, the structures take multicurved shapes in three-dimensional space [1].

## Behavior and locomotion

A fish-like DHSR changed its behavior with the environment: it jumped randomly on land and swam regularly in water [1]. The authors also demonstrated decoupling of locomotion from function, with region-selective cargo delivery in an integrated "locomotion-perception-action" workflow [1].

## Gastric ulcer prototype

As a biomedical example, the team made a ring-like pH-responsive DHSR for gastric ulcer therapy. It combines rolling, tumbling and rotating locomotion, adaptive matching and microneedle-mediated penetration [1].

The robot was combined with a capsule endoscopy system to explore a wireless and painless diagnostic-therapeutic platform in a pig model [1]. The authors state that the approach gives the robot perception and multitask execution capabilities [1]. The work remains at the prototype and animal-model stage.

## Sources

1. [Science Advances](https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aeh1001)

---

Source: RealTech, realtech.media — https://realtech.media/news/rt-95aa9952f64fc5dc4ca0a130_magnetic_hydrogel_soft/