In what may be the birth of cheap, easy-to-make robots, researchers have created complex machines that transform themselves from little more than a sheet of paper and plastic into walking automatons.

Athletes jumping off a diving board. A duck circling a pond. Planets rotating in space. What do all these things have in common? They—or at least, their robotic representations—are products of a ...

What do you see when you close your eyes and imagine robots? Probably tough, metallic machines that can withstand all sorts of extreme conditions. While that's usually the case with most DARPA-funded ...