Soft robots, are mobile machines largely constructed from soft materials and have received much attention recently because they are opening new perspectives for robot design and control. This paper reports recent progress in the development of soft robots, more precisely, soft actuators and soft sensors. Soft actuators play an important role in functionalities of soft robots, and dielectric elastomers have shown great promise because of their considerable voltage-induced deformation. We developed soft inflated dielectric elastomer actuators and their networks, with the advantages to be highly deformable and continuously controllable. When it comes to control of soft robots, soft sensors are of great importance. We proposed a methodology to design, analyze, and fabricate a multi-axis soft sensor, made of dielectric elastomer, capable of detecting and decoupling compressive and shear loads with high sensitivity, linearity, and stability.
Recent Progress in the Development of Soft Robots