Advanced Technologies in Soft Actuators—2nd Edition

A special issue of Actuators (ISSN 2076-0825). This special issue belongs to the section "Actuator Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2027 | Viewed by 6141

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry, Charles University, Hlavova 8, 12800 Prague, Czech Republic
Interests: artificial muscles; soft robotics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical System Engineering, Kumoh National Institute of Technology, Gumi-si, Republic of Korea
Interests: polymer actuators; graphene
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soft robotics and actuators show great promise by enabling the control of machines and systems that rigid robots and actuators cannot achieve. Their flexibility and adaptability make them ideal for interacting with delicate objects and living organisms in complex and dynamic environments. Typically, soft actuators require a control signal and an energy source to function. These control signals cause the actuators to deform, converting input energy into mechanical motion used to operate machines or systems. Various stimuli, including electrical or magnetic fields, heat, light, humidity, pH levels, chemicals, hydraulic forces, and pressure, can be used to activate the actuators. Soft actuators are typically made of stimuli-responsive materials with different mechanisms. For instance, ionic electroactive soft actuators bend when ions rearrange in response to external electrical fields. Photoactuators can deform through mechanisms such as thermal expansion/contraction, humidity adsorption changes, and variations in molecular configuration. These stimuli-responsive soft actuators offer numerous advantages, including lightness, flexibility, compliance, complex motion capabilities, safety, low noise, minimal vibration, space efficiency, high degrees of freedom, and adaptability to environmental changes, which position them as potential replacements for rigid counterparts in various devices.

This Special Issue aims to present those advanced technologies that are useful for the further development of soft actuators for real-world applications.

Dr. Manmatha Mahato
Dr. Jaehwan Kim
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • IPMC
  • EAP
  • photo and thermally active actuators
  • magnetoactive actuators
  • SMA

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Review

28 pages, 48166 KB  
Review
Pneumatics in Service Robotics: A Review Across Application Domains and the Impact of Soft Robotics
by Giovanni Colucci, Simone Duretto, Luigi Tagliavini, Andrea Botta, Lorenzo Toccaceli, Francesco Amodio and Giuseppe Quaglia
Actuators 2026, 15(6), 296; https://doi.org/10.3390/act15060296 - 27 May 2026
Viewed by 222
Abstract
Soft robotics is a rapidly evolving field that has attracted significant attention within the scientific community. This review analyzes the main advantages of pneumatic technology in service robots across the different application domains defined by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). By organizing [...] Read more.
Soft robotics is a rapidly evolving field that has attracted significant attention within the scientific community. This review analyzes the main advantages of pneumatic technology in service robots across the different application domains defined by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). By organizing the literature according to application domains, this work aims to clarify the specific benefits of pneumatic and soft pneumatic solutions in each context. The proposed approach distinguishes between traditional pneumatic solutions and the subsequent emergence of soft robotics, in order to highlight how and to what extent soft technologies have reshaped the design and application scenarios. Particular attention is devoted to the role of materials and recent manufacturing techniques used by researchers to fabricate soft pneumatic robots. Based on 163 selected papers, the analysis reveals that medical and agricultural applications dominate soft pneumatic research, accounting for 41% and 27% of the soft sample, respectively. Compared to traditional pneumatics, the medical sector has expanded into cardiac assistive devices, wearable monitoring sensors, and minimally invasive surgery; agriculture has grown from 17% to 27% of the soft literature due to precision harvesting grippers. Soft inspection robots have increased thanks to continuum manipulators and bio-inspired locomotion, while search and rescue remains a niche (9%) but promising sector. Unlike previous reviews that focus on single domains or technologies, this work quantifies the uneven transition from rigid to soft pneumatics across IFR sectors and highlights emerging application-specific design paradigms that were not feasible with traditional systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technologies in Soft Actuators—2nd Edition)
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39 pages, 16826 KB  
Review
Recent Developments in Pneumatic Artificial Muscle Actuators
by Aliya Zhagiparova, Vladimir Golubev and Daewon Kim
Actuators 2025, 14(12), 582; https://doi.org/10.3390/act14120582 - 1 Dec 2025
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 5547
Abstract
Pneumatic Artificial Muscles (PAMs) are soft actuators that mimic the contractile behavior of biological muscles through fluid-driven deformation. Originating from McKibben’s 1950s braided design, PAMs have evolved into a diverse class of actuators, offering high power-to-weight ratios, compliance, and safe human interaction, with [...] Read more.
Pneumatic Artificial Muscles (PAMs) are soft actuators that mimic the contractile behavior of biological muscles through fluid-driven deformation. Originating from McKibben’s 1950s braided design, PAMs have evolved into a diverse class of actuators, offering high power-to-weight ratios, compliance, and safe human interaction, with applications spanning rehabilitation, assistive robotics, aerospace, and adaptive structures. This review surveys recent developments in actuation mechanisms and applications of PAMs. Traditional designs, including braided, pleated, netted, and embedded types, remain widely used but face challenges such as hysteresis, limited contraction, and nonlinear control. To address these limitations, researchers have introduced non-traditional mechanisms such as vacuum-powered, inverse, foldable, origami-based, reconfigurable, and hybrid PAMs. These innovations improve the contraction range, efficiency, control precision, and integration into compact or untethered systems. This review also highlights applications beyond conventional biomechanics and automation, including embodied computation, deployable aerospace systems, and adaptive architecture. Collectively, these advances demonstrate PAMs’ expanding role as versatile soft actuators. Ongoing research is expected to refine material durability, control strategies, and multifunctionality, enabling the next generation of wearable devices, soft robots, and energy-efficient adaptive systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technologies in Soft Actuators—2nd Edition)
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