ArticleNature reviews. Materials2022
Soft actuators for real-world applications.
Article in Nature reviews. Materials, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 182 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
182 citing papers in PubMed.
- Soft Skins With Reversible Thickness Morphing: Materials, Mechanisms, and Applications.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Review
- Minimally invasive bioelectronic implants.Nature materials · 2026Review
- Reducing Nematic-Isotropic Transition Temperature Improves Phototropic Actuation in Printable Liquid Crystal Elastomers.Chemistry of materials : a publication of the American Chemical Society · 2026Article
- A Symmetric Bidirectional Soft Rotary Actuator with a Bendable Shaft Driven by Extension-Type Pneumatic Actuators.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Low-Cost and Tough Pneumatic Artificial Muscle (LT-PAM).HardwareX · 2026Article
- Mechanically Assisted Magnetic Actuation in Ceramic-Based Microscrolls for Fast and Durable Soft Robotic Systems.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- Discrete 2D Material Programming for 3D Shaping and Morphogenesis-Inspired 4D Bioprinting.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- 3D printable tough hydrogel actuators.Materials horizons · 2026Review
- Clinical translation and engineering challenges of soft robotic cardiac sleeves for heart failure.Nature communications · 2026Review
- Liquid Crystal Elastomers for Adaptive Intelligent Systems: From Molecular Design to Multifunctional Applications.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026Review
- Metasurface-Enabled Light-Driven Liquid Crystal Elastomer Actuators.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2026Article
- Bistable Networks Enable Complex Shape Changes.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Unveiling the Printability and Performance of 3D Printed Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate Stretchable Foams.ACS applied materials & interfaces · 2026Article
- Structure-Function Engineering of Hydrogel-MOF Polymer Composites for Regenerative Wound Dressings with Emerging Antiviral Biointerface Functions.Gels (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- 3D-Printed Metamaterial-Based Soft Sensors: Materials, Design, and Fabrications.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2026Review
- Magnetically levitated metasurface enabling tangible and bidirectional human-machine interaction.Science advances · 2026Article
- Reading, decrypting, and actuating with light in soft-robotic materials.Light, science & applications · 2026Article
- Light-Triggered Bending in Photochromic/Graphene Oxide Bilayers via Synergistic Photo-Thermal Actuation and Mechanical Amplification.ACS applied materials & interfaces · 2026Article
- Switchable adhesion of phase-transition eutectogels with integrated machine learning-enhanced intelligent adhesion sensing.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Mechanochemical and machine-intelligent design of programmable materials: From molecular interactions to macroscale functionality.Materials today. Bio · 2026Review
122 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Inspired by physically adaptive, agile, reconfigurable and multifunctional soft-bodied animals and human muscles, soft actuators have been developed for a variety of applications, including soft grippers, artificial muscles, wearables, haptic devices and medical devices. However, the complex performance of biological systems cannot yet be fully replicated in synthetic designs. In this Review, we discuss new materials and structural designs for the engineering of soft actuators with physical intelligence and advanced properties, such as adaptability, multimodal locomotion, self-healing and multi-responsiveness. We examine how performance can be improved and multifunctionality implemented by using programmable soft materials, and highlight important real-world applications of soft actuators. Finally, we discuss the challenges and opportunities for next-generation soft actuators, including physical intelligence, adaptability, manufacturing scalability and reproducibility, extended lifetime and end-of-life strategies.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.