When a new technology comes along and is able to improve a basic technical ratio - like power density of batteries or the # of transistors per integrated circuit - by 5 or 10 x... it typically allows entirely new classes of technologies to be created. In this Solve for X talk, Saul Griffith talks about such an advance. He's working on soft actuators, ones driven by air, that could create robotic actuators with significantly higher torque to weight ratios.
Problem: Actuators in robots are heavy, clunky and limit mobility, dexterity and speed.
Solution: Create materials and actuators that are soft - that act more like muscles and tissues found in nature and exert tremendous forces while being flexible and low weight.
Breakthrough technology that makes this possible: Saul and other researchers utilize differential air pressure within flexible materials in order to create large inflatable robots and actuators unlike anything you've seen before.