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Chen et al. Soft Sci. 2026, 6, 9 Page 31 of 36

shape-shifting swarms capable of forming temporary structures on demand-bridges, barriers, or even
electronic circuits that assemble and disassemble as needed. In space exploration, their ability to flow,
reconfigure, and self-heal could allow them to adapt to extreme environments, repairing spacecraft hulls or
navigating extraterrestrial terrains where conventional robots would fail. Moreover, hybrid robots that
integrate LMs with biological systems could combine self-healing, adaptability, and reconfigurable functions,
enabling seamless interaction with living tissues. Such bio-hybrid platforms may one day evolve into
adaptive implants, artificial organs, or even novel life-like entities that blur the boundary between biology
and machine.

DECLARATIONS
Authors’ contributions
Led the manuscript writing and figure preparation: Chen, G.; Ma, B.; He, Y.; Yang, W.; Liu, H.
Designed and composed the content of the manuscript: Chen, G.; Ma, B.; He, Y.
Supervised the overall structure, provided critical feedback, and finalized the manuscript: Ma, B.; He, Y.; Liu,
H.
All authors discussed and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Availability of data and materials
Not applicable.

Financial support and sponsorship
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
(2025T180784), the Jiangsu Provincial Scientific Research Center of Applied Mathematics (BK20233002), the
Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (KYCX24_0473), and the SEU
Innovation Capability Enhancement Plan for Doctoral Students (CXJH_SEU 24144). This work was also
partially supported by the Deakin University Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (DUPRF).

Conflicts of interest
All authors declared that there are no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.

Consent for publication
Not applicable.

Copyright
© The Author(s) 2026.

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