ABSTRACT
Email: dvogt@seas.harvard.edu 3 Department of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191,
China. Email: shichong1983623@hotmail.com 4 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154-4027,
USA. Email: qi.shen@unlv.edu 5 School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191,
China. Email: renziyu2013@gmail.com * Corresponding author: liwen@buaa.edu.cn
Conventional robots have the capability of operating heavy weights and moving rapidly, but are poor at dealing with human beings, with tissue, with soft objects and objects of complex three-dimensional shapes. The state-of-art of soft robotics inspired a new wave of robotics, and is an innovative research fi eld dedicated to the science and engineering of new advanced materials in machines. In order to interact with various natural environments, multidisciplinary in scope, Soft Robotics combines advances in biomedical engineering, biomechanics, material science, soft matter physics and artifi cial intelligence to provide comprehensive coverage of new approaches to construct devices that can undergo dramatic changes in shape, size, kinematics as well as other functions. In this chapter, we fi rst provide a brief general overview of the advanced materials that can be applied to the soft robotics, then we introduce three representative advanced materials as new forms of actuators and sensors as well as some potential applications. Finally we end up with a discussion of the future perspectives of the soft robotics. This new technology delivers vital applications for a variety of purposes, including search and rescue fi eld robotics, aeronautics space manipulation, industrial operation, assistive medical and rehabilitation devices, etc.
