Soft-Matter Engineering for Soft Robotics

Since its inception, the field of robotics has aimed to create machines that mimic the extraordinary capabilities of the human body. From as early as the 1940s, this has included efforts to engineer actuators and electronics out of elastomers, textiles, and other soft materials in order to mimic the compliance and deformability of natural biological tissue. In the decades since, there is extraordinary progress in the subdomain of soft robotics, with recent efforts focused on novel methods of actuation, sensing, and manufacturing. In this progress report, recent advancements within this field from the perspective of materials and mechanics are highlighted. Wherever possible, efforts in soft robotics are connected to progress in the broader field of soft-matter engineering, which relates to the application of principles and practices in the soft-matter sciences to create machines, electronics, and robotic systems out of fluids, elastomers, gels, and other soft materials. To close, the current challenges and future opportunities within the field of robotics are briefly discussed, with special attention toward the eventual goal of autonomous soft robots that are capable of operating without dependency on external hardware, tethers, or manual intervention.