Endowing actuators with sensing capability: Recent progress on perceptive soft actuators

Over the past decade, soft actuators have received enormous interest for potential applications in artificial muscles, soft grippers, wearable devices, minimally invasive surgery robots, and medical rehabilitation devices due to their safety, interactivity, and adaptability resulting from their intrinsic soft bodies or compliant structures. However, to meet the increasing demands of real-time feedback and closed-loop control in complicated scenarios, perception is essential for autonomous and intelligent soft actuators. Herein, recent advances in soft actuators with integrated sensing function are investigated to provide an understanding of the state-of-the-art in this field. Typical sensing technologies for perceptive soft actuators are categorized, described, and their pros and cons are discussed. Furthermore, perceptive soft actuators based on different actuation mechanisms are highlighted. Finally, current challenges and future perspectives toward perceptive soft actuators are proposed and analyzed, with the aim of providing a guide for researchers to design next-generation intelligent soft actuators with integrated sensing capability.