Multimodal Actuation and Precise Control in Liquid Crystal Elastomer Optical Fiber Artificial Muscles

), enabling over 40% contraction strain with minimal ambient interference. Bundling multiple LCEOFs yields artificial arms capable of complicated and controllable deformations, including long-distance contraction (≥5 cm), weightlifting (>4000 times their own weight), wide-range torsion (0-180°), and omnidirectional bending (0-360°). Multimodal actuation is precisely and independently regulated via terminal-coupled laser inputs for each LCEOF in bundled arrays, enabling coordinated, crosstalk-free motions. These optical fiber artificial muscles allow precise and controllable operation of an artificial hand for grasping and manipulating objects, without reliance on free-space lateral illumination. Additionally, robotics systems incorporating bundles of LCEOFs have been designed and demonstrated for tasks such as laser writing and object transfer in confined environments, thereby offering new possibilities for the advancement of smart actuators.