In this work, we present an injection molded soft total artificial heart (sTAH) produced from high-temperature vulcanizing silicone using an industrial metal injection mold. At 60 beats per minute, the sTAH exhibited a total cardiac output of over 16 L/min against physiological pressures on a mock circulation and was pumped continuously for 110,000 actuation cycles. Finite element analysis was used

The compliant nature of soft fingers allows for safe and dexterous manipulation of objects by humans in an unstructured environment. A soft prosthetic finger design with tactile sensing capabilities for texture discrimination and subsequent sensory stimulation has the potential to create a more natural experience for an amputee. In this work, a pneumatically actuated soft biomimetic finger is integrated

Deformation behavior of soft pneumatic actuators (SPAs) can mechanically be preprogrammed into their architecture during design. To date, the majority of SPAs rely on a unimodal bending design. This paper develops a method of including a bimodal design into the deformed state by means of a bilinear material that replaces the conventional strain limiter. With a simple increase in pneumatic pressure

Earthworm-like peristaltic locomotion has been implemented in >50 robots, with many potential applications in otherwise inaccessible terrain. Design guidelines for peristaltic locomotion have come from observations of biology, but robots have empirically explored different structures, actuators, and control waveform shapes than those observed in biological organisms. In this study, we suggest a template

Traditional actuators, such as motors as well as hydraulic or pneumatic artificial muscles, demonstrate excessive noise, a heavy weight, and a large size, which limit their practical application in many areas. Therefore, for many decades, scientists have worked to develop new types of silent, small, and light actuators. In this article, a novel soft actuator (actuator3) with a high load-to-weight ratio

Soft material actuation is a promising field that can potentially solve several limitations of traditional robotic systems. These systems comprise soft and flexible materials to achieve high degrees of freedom and compliance with their surroundings. One method to actuate such structures is to vaporize liquid that is embedded inside the soft material. The soft elastomers are inflated since the generated

Pneumatically driven soft robotic grippers have been extensively studied in recent years. A majority of the grippers, especially those entirely composed of soft materials, can adapt to and handle various objects. However, there are limited studies regarding the realization of arbitrary grasping postures and twisting manipulation. Furthermore, the handling efficiency or the takt time of a handling task

Emerging worm-like soft robots with various soft materials and different actuation mechanism have been frequently discussed. It is very challenging for soft robots in realizing a fast and untethered crawling. In this article, a biomimetic magnet embedded worm-like robot (shorted as “MagWorm”) in the size of centimeter level is designed and investigated. The actuation of the MagWorm is achieved by housing

Pathological tremor is a kind of movement disorder that affects a wide range of patients with Parkinson's disease and essential tremor. Different from available clinical treatments for tremor, including drug and surgery therapy, a novel soft exoskeleton for tremor suppression (SETS) based on assistive technologies is proposed in this study. The SETS system is equipped with a controllable flexible semiactive

Pressurization of gas within embedded channels and cavities is a popular method for actuating soft robots. Various previous works examined the effects of internal fluid mechanics on this actuation approach, as well as on leveraging viscous effects to extend the capabilities of soft robots. However, no existing works studied the combined effects of fluid viscosity and compressibility, relevant to miniaturized

Pneu-net soft actuators, consisting of pneumatic networks of small chambers embedded in elastomeric structures, are particularly promising candidates in the society of soft robotics. However, there are few studies on the analytical modeling of pneu-net soft actuators, especially in the three-dimensional space. In this article, based on the minimum potential energy method and the continuum rod theory

The ability to navigate complex unstructured environments and carry out inspection tasks requires robots to be capable of climbing inclined surfaces and to be equipped with a sensor payload. These features are desirable for robots that are used to inspect and monitor offshore energy platforms. Existing climbing robots mostly use rigid actuators, and robots that use soft actuators are not fully untethered

This study addresses a design and calibration methodology based on numerical finite element method (FEM) modeling for the development of a soft tactile sensor able to simultaneously solve the magnitude and the application location of a normal load exerted onto its surface. The sensor entails the integration of a Bragg grating fiber optic sensor in a Dragon Skin 10 polymer brick (110 mm length, 24 mm

The development of miniaturized continuum robots has a wide range of applications in minimally invasive endoluminal interventions. To navigate inside tortuous lumens without impinging on the vessel wall and causing tissue damage or the risk of perforation, it is necessary to have simultaneous shape sensing of the continuum robot and its tip contact force sensing with the surrounding environment. Miniaturization

Self-regulation (or so-called homeostasis) is a property of all living organisms to maintain an internal stable state through specialized biofeedback mechanisms under varying external and internal conditions. Although these feedback mechanisms in living organisms are complex networks and hard to implement one-to-one in artificial systems, the new approaches in soft robotics may benefit from the concept

Dielectric elastomer actuators exhibit an unusual combination of large displacements, moderate bandwidth, low power consumption, and mechanical impedance comparable with human skin, making them attractive for haptic devices. In this article, we propose a wearable haptic communication device based on a two-by-two array of dielectric elastomer linear actuators. We briefly describe the architecture of

This study presents the design of a pneumatic artificial muscle with integrated soft optical sensing for estimation of muscle contraction length and contraction force. Each optical sensor uses an light emitting diode (LED)-photodiode pair to measure the light reflected by a silicone diaphragm embedded in the muscle. One diaphragm is designed to respond primarily to changes in muscle pressure, whereas

Dynamics, control, and sensing are still challenges for pneumatically actuated soft actuators. We consider feasible solutions based on a radially contracting actuator to overcome these challenges. The radially contracting actuator was inspired by the movement of the stomach wall. It was capable of achieving radial contraction by inflating its circular air chamber. A quasi-static model that relates

From small unicellular organisms to large mammals, swallowing is an important way for them to interact with their external environment. The majority of these animals swallow their targets for the purpose of hunting, and some fish and amphibians protect their cubs from external injury by swallowing them. Thus, swallowing can produce an efficient capture, keep the integrity of targets, and provide effective

Soft climbing robots have attracted much attention of researchers for their potential applications on the wall or inside the tube. However, making a soft robot climb on the outer surface of a rod or tube by agile and efficient motion has long been a challenge. Inspired by the winding climbing locomotion of arboreal snakes, a tethered pneumatic-actuated winding-styled soft rod-climbing robot that consists

Some applications are very sensitive to the weight of the robot, such as space manipulation or any untethered mobile manipulation. In this article, we designed a five-module unilaterally bending serial manipulator with length of 32 cm and a weight of only 18 g. The manipulator is driven by dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs). Each module consists of a spatially closed tubular structure, which has

Soft continuum robots are getting more popular in areas such as minimally invasive surgery, search and rescue, and inspection due to their inherent compliance and flexibility. However, most of the conventional continuum robots still lack the ability to significantly change size and length. Growth as a means of robotic locomotion is a novel actuation method that can be used to overcome this disadvantage

Cephalopods could simultaneously achieve both accurate positioning and agile bodily maneuvers by coordinating the mantle and the funnel, which is ideal for underwater robotic applications toward a compact propulsor with combined thrust vectoring and regulation. For a wide range of underwater applications from videography to manipulation, this novel approach would offer a compact and integrated alternative

Soft robotic systems are well suited for developing devices for biomedical applications. A bio-mimicking robotic soft esophagus (RoSE) is developed as an in vitro testing device of endoprosthetic stents for dysphagia management. Endoprosthetic stent placement is an immediate and cost-effective therapy for dysphagia caused by malignant esophageal strictures from esophageal cancer. However, later stage

Having accurate data to represent hyperelastic materials that underpin soft robotics would facilitate their analysis, design, and validation. We seek to provide the reader with a useful tool to overcome a mundane but crucially important problem in determining the hyperelastic material properties. We show how to employ first dimensionless and then dimensional comparisons between experimental data and

Continuum robot arms, with their hyper-redundant continuously deformable bodies, show great promise in applications deemed impossible for traditional rigid robot arms with discrete links and joints, such as navigating tight corners without getting stuck. However, existing continuum robots suffer from excessive twisting when subjected to offset loading, even resulting from their own body weight, which

Bending soft robots must be structured and predictable to be used in applications such as a grasping hand. We developed soft robot fingers with embedded bones to improve the performance of a puppetry robot with haptic feedback. The manufacturing process for bone-inspired soft robots is described, and two mathematical models are reported: one to predict the stiffness and natural frequency of the robot

Soft grippers and actuators have attracted increasing attention due to safer and more adaptable human–machine and environment–machine interactions than their rigid counterparts. In this study we present a novel soft humanoid hand that is capable of robustly grasping a variety of objects with different weights, sizes, shapes, textures, and stiffnesses. The soft hand fingers are made of flexible hybrid

The goal of this study was to propose and validate a control framework with level-2 autonomy (task autonomy) for the control of flexible ablation catheters. To this end, a kinematic model for the flexible portion of typical ablation catheters was developed and a 40-mm-long spring-loaded flexible catheter was fabricated. The feasible space of the catheter was obtained experimentally. Furthermore, a

Soft robots offer an alternative approach to manipulate within a constrained space while maintaining a safe interaction with the external environment. Owing to its adaptable compliance characteristic, external contact force can easily deform the robot shapes and lead to undesired robot kinematic and dynamic properties. Accurate contact detection and contact location estimation are of critical importance

Developing soft electrothermal actuators (ETAs) has drawn extensive concern in recent years. This article presents a comprehensive review on recent progress of soft ETAs through five sections: device design on structure and materials, property, fabrication methods, applications, and prospects. It's found that the fabrication process can be divided into standard surface complementary metal oxide semiconductor

Three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of human body has wide applications, for example, for customized design of clothes and digital avatar production. Existing vision-based systems for 3D body reconstruction require users to wear minimal or extreme-tight clothes in front of cameras, and thus suffer from privacy problems. In this work, we explore a novel solution based on a sparse number of soft sensors

The flexible strain sensor is a fast-moving technology and has been used in many fields. The array design and application based on flexible strain sensors have been the current research hotspots. However, there are few reports on research of acoustic positioning using the flexible sensor array. Herein, we designed and realized the consistent fabrication of a thin-film, acoustic sensor array. The acoustic

Possessing the attributes of high adaptability and low cost, soft robotic individuals can further coordinate and form into a swarming system, enhancing the performances as well as functions in practical applications. However, the formation control of soft robotic swarm remains challenging mainly due to the limitation in relatively low precision and slow response of the soft actuators. In this work

Soft actuators using pressurized air are being widely used due to their inherent compliance, conformability, and customizability. These actuators are powered and controlled by pneumatic supply systems (PSSs) consisting of components such as compressors, valves, tubing, and reservoirs. Regardless of the choice of actuator, the PSS critically affects overall performance of soft robots because it governs

Liquid–vapor phase change materials (PCMs), capable of significant volume change, are emerging as attractive actuating components in forming advanced soft composites for robotic applications. However, the novel and functional design of these PCM composites is significantly limited due to the lacking of the fundamental understanding of the mechanical properties, which further inhibits the broad applications

To advance the field of soft robotics, a unified database of material constitutive models and experimental characterizations is of paramount importance. This will facilitate the use of finite element analysis to simulate their behavior and optimize the design of soft-bodied robots. Samples from seventeen elastomers, namely Body Double™ SILK, Dragon Skin™ 10 MEDIUM, Dragon Skin 20, Dragon Skin 30, Dragon

Stiffness transition of a soft continuum body is an essential feature for dexterous interaction with an unstructured environment. Softness ensures safe interaction, whereas rigidness generates high force for movement or manipulation. Vacuum-based granular jamming is a widely used technique for on-line stiffness transition because of its high reconfigurability and intuitive driving method. However,

Various actuators (e.g., pneumatics, cables, dielectric elastomers, etc.) have been utilized to actuate soft robots. Besides widely used actuators, a relatively new artificial muscle—twisted-and-coiled actuators (TCAs)—is promising for actuating centimeter-scale soft robots because they are low cost, have a large work density, and can be driven by electricity. However, existing works on TCA-actuated

The human stomach breaks down and transports food by coordinated radial contractions of the gastric walls. The radial contractions periodically propagate through the stomach and constitute the peristaltic contractions, also called the gastric motility. The force, amplitude, and frequency of peristaltic contractions are relevant to massaging and transporting the food contents in the gastric lumen. However

Worldwide, over 50 million people suffer from persistent hand impairments after stroke or spinal cord injury (SCI). This results in major loss of independence and quality of life. Robotic hand exoskeletons can compensate for lost motor function and assist in grasping tasks performed in everyday activities. Several recent prototypes can partially provide this assistance. However, it remains challenging

Introducing functional synthetic biomaterials to the literature became quite essential in biomedical technologies. For the growth of novel biomedical engineering approaches, progressive functional properties as well as the robustness of the manufacturing processes are essential. By using acid-induced epoxide ring-opening polymerizations through catalysts, a wide variety of biodegradable and functionalized

Soft robotics requires new actuators and artificial muscles that are lighter, less expensive, and more effective than current technologies. Recently developed bubble artificial muscles (BAMs) are lightweight, flexible, inexpensive, pneumatic actuators with the capability of being scalable, contracting at a low pressure, and generating sufficient tension and contraction for assisting human mobility

Given that mobile soft robots are adaptable to the environment, they are always tethered with slow locomotion speed. Compared with other types of mobile robots, mobile soft robots may be more suitable for rescuing tasks, accompanying elderly people, and being used as a safe toy for children. However, the infinite freedom of soft robots increases the difficulty of precision control. In addition, the

Many mammals use their vibrissae (whiskers) to tactually explore their surrounding environment. Vibrissae are thin tapered structures that transmit mechanical signals to a wealth of mechanical receptors (sensors) located in a follicle at each vibrissal base. A recent study has shown that—provided that the whisker is tapered—three mechanical signals at the base are sufficient to determine the three-dimensional

Soft robotic devices can be used to demonstrate mechanics, robotics, and health care devices in classrooms. The complexity of soft robotic actuator fabrication has limited its classroom use. We propose a single-mold method of fabricating soluble insert actuators (SIAs) to simplify existing actuator fabrication methods using common accessible materials. This was accomplished by embedding molded soluble

Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) have been shown to produce electrically induced strains beyond 500%. The ability to undergo large deformation allows the DEA to store large amounts of elastic energy by electrical actuation; it also allows the DEA to perform flexibly in a diverse range of motions. Existing studies used different methods to maximize actuation strain for soft robotic applications

Soft spherical tensegrity robots are novel steerable mobile robotic platforms that are compliant, lightweight, and robust. The geometry of these robots is suitable for rolling locomotion, and they achieve this motion by properly deforming their structures using carefully chosen actuation strategies. The objective of this work is to consolidate and add to our research to date on methods for realizing

Variable-stiffness artificial muscles are important in many applications including running and hopping robots, human–robot interaction, and active suspension systems. Previously used technologies include pneumatic muscles, layer and granular jamming, series elastic actuators, and shape memory polymers. All these are limited in terms of cost, complexity, the need for fluid power supplies, or controllability

Soft hands based only on an actuator system using a motor, air compressor, or smart material show obvious shortcomings due to the characteristics of each actuator. In this article, to overcome the weaknesses of each actuator system, a novel soft hand with a hybrid actuator system is presented to improve the grasping capacity and complete complex tasks, as the individual actuators can complement each

Soft robots leverage deformable bodies to achieve different types of locomotion, improve transportability, and safely navigate cluttered environments. In this context, variable-stiffness structures provide soft robots with additional properties, such as the ability to increase forces transmitted to the environment, to lock into different body configurations, and to reduce the number of actuators required

Soft robots have applications in safe human–robot interactions, manipulation of fragile objects, and locomotion in challenging and unstructured environments. In this article, we present a computational method for augmenting soft robots with proprioceptive sensing capabilities. Our method automatically computes a minimal stretch-receptive sensor network to user-provided soft robotic designs, which is

This article describes the performance of a flexible resistive sensor network to track shoulder motion. This system monitors every gesture of the human shoulder in its range of motion except rotations around the longitudinal axis of the arm. In this regard, the design considers the movement of the glenohumeral, acromioclavicular, sternoclavicular, and scapulothoracic joints. The solution presented

This article describes a novel design of bioinspired soft robotic fingers based upon hybrid jamming principle—integrated layer jamming and particle jamming. The finger combines a fiber-reinforced soft pneumatic actuator with a hybrid jamming substrate. Taking advantage of different characteristics of layer jamming and particle jamming, the substrate is designed with three chambers filled with layers

This work described a bioinspired soft robotic finger with variable bending length to conform objects with different sizes by means of selectively varying the structural stiffness of its segments. The basic design is a shape memory alloy-based soft actuator with embedded stiffness-varying structures serving as modifiable endoskeletons. The stiffness-varying structure is composed of shape memory polymer

Human skins are active, smart, and stretchable. Artificial skins that can replicate these properties are promising materials and technologies that will enable lightweight, cost-effective, portable, and deployable soft devices and robots. We show an active, stretchable, and portable artificial skin (ElectroSkin) that combines dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) and soft electroadhesives (EAs) in a

Fabric muscle is important for wearable robots that are soft, compliant, and silent with high contractility and high force. This study presents a novel shape memory alloy (SMA) spring-based fabric muscle (SFM). The SFM is manufactured by bundling SMA springs with proven performance as artificial muscle. The SFM generates high contractility and high force, and is soft, flexible, and light because it

Soft pneumatic actuators (SPAs) are widely studied and applied in the field of soft robotics. To expand their applications, the SPAs should be purpose-built to generate application-specific complex motions with multiple degrees of freedom. This article describes a new SPA consisting of a series of internal chambers with the same helix angle arranged in a row, which could generate bending and twisting

Changing the shape and the stiffness of a device in a dynamic and controlled way enables important advancements in the field of robotics and wearable robotics. Variable stiffness materials and technologies can be used to address this challenge. In particular, layer jamming actuation is a very promising technology, featured by high efficiency and low cost. In this article, a stiffness- and shape-changing

Wearable devices developed with flexible electronics have great potential applications for human health monitoring and motion sensing. Although material softness and structural flexibility provide a deformable human–machine interface to adapt to joint bending or tissue stretching/compression, flexible sensors are inconvenient in practical uses as they usually require calibration every time they are