This paper focuses on the application of soft robotics in the area of social interaction, and presents a modular approach on the design of a soft robotic neck for integration with the social robot HARU. The proposed design incorporates soft robotics and additive manufacturing principles, enhancing safety through compliance for absorbing contacts with users or objects, while modularity allows for easy replacement or upgrade to meet HARU's specific application requirements. The paper discusses the conceptual design specifics of the soft robotic neck and provides an overview of the prototype development stages and its main functionalities.

Cell culture is a ubiquitous and flexible research method. However, it heavily relies on plastic consumables generating millions of tonnes of plastic waste yearly. Plastic waste is a major and growing global concern. Here we describe a new cell culture dish that offers a culture area equivalent to three petri dishes but that is on average 61% lighter and occupies 67% less volume. Our dish is composed of a lid and three thin containers surrounded by a light outer shell. Cell culture can be performed in each of the containers sequentially. The outer shell provides the appropriate structure for the manipulation of the dish as a whole. The prototype was tested by sequentially growing cells in each of its containers. As a control, sequential cultures in groups of 3 petri dishes were performed. No statistical differences were found between the prototype and the control in terms of cell number, cell viability or cell distribution.