Light-Responsive Soft Actuators: Mechanism, Materials, Fabrication, and Applications

Soft robots are those that can move like living organisms and adapt to the surrounding environment. Compared with traditional rigid robots, advantages of soft in terms material flexibility, human–computer interaction, biological adaptability, have received extensive attention. Flexible actuators based on light response one most promising ways promote field cordless they attracted attention scientists bionic design, actuation implementation, application. First, three working principles commonly used light-responsive materials for introduced. Then, characteristics sequentially presented, emphasizing structure strategy, performance, emerging applications. Finally, this review is concluded a perspective existing challenges future opportunities nascent research frontier.