Soft Actuators and Robots that Are Resistant to Mechanical Damage

Robots based on rigid structural elements—metallic skeletons, electrical motors, conventional mechanical actuators, and mechanical joints—can be superb at performing tasks that require high precision, rapid movement, or application of high levels of force or power. These “hard” robots are, however, often heavy, costly, and diffi cult (and expensive) to control. [ 1–3 ] Hard robots designed to be lightweight and capable of performing delicate operations are vulnerable to damage by impact or by compression; joints and sensors are especially vulnerable to bending, collisions, and blunt impacts, since even small deformations can lead to incorrect positioning of their components and to failure. [ 4,5 ]