Robotic locomotion in unstructured terrain demands an agile, adaptive, and energy-efficient architecture. To traverse such terrains, legged robots use rigid electromagnetic motors and sensorized drivetrains to adapt to the environment actively. These systems struggle to compete with animals that excel through their agile and effortless motion in natural environments. We propose a bio-inspired musculoskeletal leg architecture driven by antagonistic pairs of electrohydraulic artificial muscles. Our leg is mounted on a boom arm and can adaptively hop on varying terrain in an energy-efficient yet agile manner. It can also detect obstacles through capacitive self-sensing. The leg performs powerful and agile gait motions beyond 5 Hz and high jumps up to 40 % of the leg height. Our leg’s tunable stiffness and inherent adaptability allow it to hop over grass, sand, gravel, pebbles, and large rocks using only open-loop force control. The electrohydraulic leg features a low cost of transport (0.73), and while squatting, it consumes only a fraction of the energy (1.2 %) compared to its conventional electromagnetic counterpart. Its agile, adaptive, and energy-efficient properties would open a roadmap toward a new class of musculoskeletal robots for versatile locomotion and operation in unstructured natural environments.

Soft pumps have the potential to transform industries including soft robotics, wearable devices, microfluidics and biomedical devices, but their efficiency and power supply limitations hinder prolonged operation. Here, we report a self-powered triboelectric-electrohydrodynamic pump, which combines a soft electrohydrodynamic pump driven by an electrostatic generator, specifically a triboelectric nanogenerator. The triboelectric nanogenerator collects ambient energy and converts it into high-voltage power source, allowing it to self-power an electrohydrodynamic pump and thus eliminating the need for external power supply. Using power management circuit, geometric shape optimization, and stacking methods, we achieve a maximum pressure of 4.49 kPa and a maximum flow rate of 502 mL/min. We demonstrate the pump’s versatility in applications such as self-powered soft actuators, oil pumping in microfluidics, and oil purification. The triboelectric-electrohydrodynamic pump holds promising applications, and offers new insights for the development of fully self-powered systems.

Energy harvesting from ocean waves and human motion remains largely unused, despite vast potential. Soft electrostatic transducers are a potential solution, leveraging shape‐dependent capacitance to convert mechanical energy into electricity. While hydraulically‐amplified self‐healing electrostatic (HASEL) transducers are versatile, high‐performance actuators, their potential as generators remains largely unexplored. Through a combined theoretical and experimental approach, this work elucidates how to maximize the energy output of HASEL generators: a quasi‐static analytical model explains the fundamental mechanisms governing the behavior of the generators and enables mapping of their operational limit‐states on work‐conjugate planes; a comprehensive parametric evaluation confirms that the model captures key experimental trends, allowing for the construction of a roadmap toward generators with substantially increased performance. Notably, this work reveals a compressive force causes greater capacitance change and higher electrical energy output than the same force in tension. Guided by the model, the optimized generator design and operating conditions lead to a maximum specific energy and power of 15 J/kg and 43 W/kg, and energy conversion efficiency of 40%, setting new benchmarks in all measured metrics. Built on a foundation of rigorous theoretical and experimental analysis, the roadmap will guide the development of high‐performance electrohydraulic generators for capture of underutilized energies.

Soft pumps have promised to revolutionize various industries including soft robotics, wearable devices, microfluidics and biomedical devices. However, low efficiency and limited power supply constrain their prolonged operation. Here, we report a self-powered triboelectric-electrohydrodynamic (TEHD) pump, which combines a soft electrohydrodynamic pump driven by an electrostatic generator, specifically a triboelectric nanogenerator; TEHD operates by collecting ambient energy and converting it into a high voltage power source, which is able to power the electrohydrodynamic pump without the need of external power supply. The performance is studied with and without power management circuit enhancement, and pressure of 4.49 kPa and flow rate of 502 mL/min could be achieved. Self-powered applications of soft actuator-driven processes, oil pumping in a microfluidic chip, and oil purification are also performed, demonstrating TEHD’s versatility. The TEHD pump holds promising applications, and offers new insights for the development of fully self-powered systems.