New robotic heart mimics common, mysterious condition to help researchers study it

Scientists have built a soft robotic heart that can mimic heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), a poorly understood condition affecting over 3 million Americans where the heart becomes too stiff to refill properly between beats. The device uses pressure-sensing artificial muscles to replicate different stages of the disease, giving researchers a more realistic tool to study how HFpEF progresses and potentially develop treatments that target the stiffening itself, not just its symptoms.