ReviewChemical reviews2026
Soft Robots Powered by Sustainable Energy.
Review in Chemical reviews, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Soft robots powered by sustainable energy abundantly available on Earth, such as heat, humidity, sunlight, osmotic potential, pH variation, triboelectricity, and wind, represent a promising shift toward eco-friendly and autonomous robotic systems. Efficiency depends on selecting and engineering responsive materials that directly transform environmental stimuli into mechanical actuation and motion, or harvest and store environmental energy to power actuators. Thermo-responsive materials undergo shape changes with temperature variations, while hygroscopic materials leverage moisture adsorption to induce actuation. Photothermal materials convert sunlight into heat and can combine thermal or hygroscopic actuators for controlled deformation. Osmotic processes drive movement through fluidic interactions, whereas pH-sensitive hydrogels respond to chemical gradients, facilitating controlled motion. Triboelectric materials generate electricity via contact-induced charge transfer, enabling self-powered sensing and actuation, while wind-dispersed structures exploit aerodynamic forces for unique movements. This review explores the critical roles of chemical, physical, mechanical, and environmental properties of materials in designing soft robots for sustainable and autonomous operation. Importantly, the review distinguishes between the broad concept of environmental energy and operation that is energetically sustainable. It systematically evaluates reported actuators and soft robotic systems based on whether their required energy sources and operating conditions are naturally occurring and regenerable, or instead depend on restricted environmental ranges, auxiliary inputs, or laboratory-controlled conditions. By examining material behavior, integration into multifunctional composites, and mechanism design for exploiting sustainable energy, this review identifies both established and emerging pathways toward environmentally realistic, autonomous, and long-lived soft robotic systems, with potential applications in environmental monitoring, reforestation, and other robotic domains.
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.