Feline-Inspired Robot Enabled by Combustion-Driven Actuators for Agile Motion and High-Payload Obstacle Traversal

In nature, many animals and skilled humans perform rapid, high-force maneuvers such as strikes, leaps, or escape responses, through instantaneous energy release. Replicating this synergy of speed, power, and precision in soft robots has remained an unsolved challenge. Here we introduce a combustion-driven soft actuator with an embedded backbone that, using a transient driving method, delivers millisecond-scale response, force outputs up to 70 times its self-weight, and control precision within 5%. This capability supports both static tasks (e.g., precision throwing), and dynamic actions (e.g., intercepting moving targets). Leveraging this actuator, we developed a feline-inspired robot that accelerates to eight body lengths per second and transitions to flight within 0.1 s, creating a multi-modal "Jump-and-Fly Catbot" (JFC) capable of jumping, flying, and hovering. JFC navigates unstructured terrains and demonstrates robust escape capabilities, including freeing itself from bed entrapment, avoiding obstructing branches, and evading net capture, with response within 0.5 s, that surpass current soft robotic systems. These results establish a new paradigm for soft robots, integrating high-force interaction, precision control, and versatile locomotion for robust operation in complex environments.