A Review of Soft Robots

TL;DR

This review paper discusses the design, applications, and limitations of soft robots inspired by biological organisms, highlighting their advantages in unstructured environments and potential uses in rescue and medical fields.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of soft robot design processes, applications, and the challenges faced, emphasizing their biological inspiration and operational benefits.

Findings

Soft robots can operate effectively in unstructured environments.

They are suitable for delicate tasks and complex interactions.

Potential applications include search and rescue, and medical care.

Abstract

Traditional robots have rigid links and structures that limit their ability to interact with the dynamics of their immediate environment. For example, conventional robot manipulators with rigid links can only manipulate objects using specific end effectors. These robots often encounter difficulties operating in unstructured and highly congested environments. A variety of biological organisms exhibit complex movement with soft structures devoid of rigid components. Inspired by biology, researchers have been able to design and build soft robots. With a soft structure and redundant degrees of freedom, these robots can be used for delicate tasks in unstructured environments. This review discusses the motivation for soft robots, their design processes as well as their applications and limitations. Soft robots have the ability to operate in unstructured environment due to their inherent potential to exploit morphological computation to adapt to, and interact with, the world in a way that is difficult with rigid systems. Soft robots could be used for operations, ranging from search and rescue operations in a natural disaster relief effort, and of emerging interest is in the field of medical care as seen in personal robots.