The field of soft robotics and adaptive physical computing is rapidly advancing, with a focus on developing innovative materials, designs, and control systems that enable safe and effective human-robot interaction. Recent research has explored the use of modular origami manipulators, continuum robots, and soft robotic systems that can adapt to changing environments and tasks. A key challenge in this field is balancing task-specific performance with broader factors such as durability and manufacturability, which can be addressed through holistic co-design approaches that optimize the body and brain of soft robots simultaneously. Noteworthy papers in this area include one that demonstrates the use of a modal-space formulation for momentum observer contact estimation in continuum robots, and another that presents a holistic co-design framework for soft robotics that incorporates a broader range of design values and integrates real-world prototyping to refine evaluations. Additionally, research on adaptive physical computers has shown promise in enabling soft robots to compute and interact with their digital counterparts, paving the way for next-generation embodied intelligence.