Soft actuators for real-world applications

Inspired by physically adaptive, agile, reconfigurable and multifunctional soft-bodied animals and human muscles, soft actuators have been developed for a variety of applications, including soft grippers, artificial muscles, wearables, haptic devices and medical devices. Soft actuators are flexible and compliant and thus perfectly suited to interact with the human body.

⚡ This is an original paraphrased summary — not copied from the abstract. Full paper available at the source link below.

• 1 However, the complex performance of biological systems cannot yet be fully replicated in synthetic designs.
• 2 In this Review, we discuss new materials and structural designs for the engineering of soft actuators with physical intelligence and advanced properties, such as adaptability, multimodal locomotion, self-healing and multi-responsiveness.
• 3 We examine how performance can be improved and multifunctionality implemented by using programmable soft materials, and highlight important real-world applications of soft actuators.

This research advances how AI systems learn, reason, and solve problems — with direct implications for automation and scientific discovery.

This summary is based on publicly available metadata and abstract. For the full research paper, visit the original source: