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Actuators
Special Issues
Recent Advances in Soft Actuators, Robotics and Intelligence
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Recent Advances in Soft Actuators, Robotics and Intelligence

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 1775

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Brian Byunghyun Kang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Intelligent Mechatronics Engineering, Sejong University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Interests: robots; soft robots; wearable robots; soft actuators; tendon-driven; actuators; mechatronics; soft sensors; mechanisms; control; input-shaping control; artificial intelligence

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With their soft bodies, soft actuators and robots are a natural safety solution for bridging the gap between machines and humans. Thanks to their flexibility and regulatory compliance, they can adapt to complex and dynamic environments. This gives them a significant advantage in the development of soft grips, wearables and haptic devices, artificial muscles and medical devices for several applications. Soft robotics has emerged to enable compliant robots to perform finer tasks, move in more complex environments and handle irregularly shaped objects. Although various soft technologies have been invented, the field is still young and faces many fundamental challenges.

Therefore, this Special Issue will focus on the latest advances in the field of soft technologies for robot realization. Here, we invite you to share your latest findings by submitting high-quality manuscripts that address the following challenges in the field:

  • Soft actuators and pliable mechanisms in robotics;
  • Artificial muscles;
  • Material and structural design of soft actuators;
  • Soft materials in soft actuators or robots;
  • Modeling and simulation of sensing actuators;
  • Model-based control of soft actuators or robots;
  • Control methods for soft actuators or robots;
  • Artificial intelligence for soft actuators or robots;
  • Unprocessed synthetic soft actuators;
  • Soft actuators in soft fixtures;
  • Development of soft actuators for complex soft robots;
  • Real-world applications of soft actuators.

Prof. Dr. Brian Byunghyun Kang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Actuators is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • soft technologies
  • soft robots
  • cable-driven robots
  • sensors
  • soft actuators
  • mechanisms
  • control for soft robots
  • modeling for soft robots
  • AI algorithm for soft technologies

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  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
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  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 29864 KiB  
Article
Adaptive Vision-Based Gait Environment Classification for Soft Ankle Exoskeleton
by Gayoung Yang, Jeong Heo and Brian Byunghyun Kang
Actuators 2024, 13(11), 428; https://doi.org/10.3390/act13110428 - 23 Oct 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1082
Abstract
Lower limb exoskeletons have been developed to improve functionality and assist with daily activities in various environments. Although these systems utilize sensors for gait phase detection, they lack anticipatory information about environmental changes, which limits their adaptability. This paper presents a vision-based intelligent [...] Read more.
Lower limb exoskeletons have been developed to improve functionality and assist with daily activities in various environments. Although these systems utilize sensors for gait phase detection, they lack anticipatory information about environmental changes, which limits their adaptability. This paper presents a vision-based intelligent gait environment detection algorithm for a lightweight ankle exosuit designed to enhance gait stability and safety for stroke patients, particularly during stair negotiation. The proposed system employs YOLOv8 for real-time environment classification, combined with a long short-term memory (LSTM) network for spatio-temporal feature extraction, enabling the precise detection of environmental transitions. An experimental study evaluated the classification algorithm and soft ankle exosuit performance through three conditions using kinematic analysis and muscle activation measurements. The algorithm achieved an overall accuracy of over 95% per class, which significantly enhanced the exosuit’s ability to detect environmental changes, and thereby improved its responsiveness to various conditions. Notably, the exosuit increased the ankle dorsiflexion angles and reduced the muscle activation during the stair ascent, which enhanced the foot clearance. The results of this study indicate that advanced spatio-temporal feature analysis and environment classification improve the exoskeleton’s gait assistance, improving adaptability in complex environments for stroke patients. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Soft Actuators, Robotics and Intelligence)
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