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Cited by 850Soft Robotics and ApplicationsAdvanced Materials and MechanicsRobotic Locomotion and Control

Soft Robotics

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Whitesides, George M.·2018·Angewandte Chemie International Edition
DOI 10.1002/anie.201800907
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Abstract

This description of “soft robotics” is not intended to be a conventional review, in the sense of a comprehensive technical summary of a developing field. Rather, its objective is to describe soft robotics as a new field—one that offers opportunities to chemists and materials scientists who like to make “things” and to work with macroscopic objects that move and exert force. It will give one (personal) view of what soft actuators and robots are, and how this class of soft devices fits into the more highly developed field of conventional “hard” robotics. It will also suggest how and why soft robotics is more than simply a minor technical “tweak” on hard robotics and propose a unique role for chemistry, and materials science, in this field. Soft robotics is, at its core, intellectually and technologically different from hard robotics, both because it has different objectives and uses and because it relies on the properties of materials to assume many of the roles played by sensors, actuators, and controllers in hard robotics.

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  • Combining soft robotics with e-skin can provide safe, light, low-complexity actuation without the high cognitive strain of rigid heavy counterparts.

    “The combination of soft robotics with e-skin can additionally provide the user with a safe, light, and low complexity mode of actuation without the high cognitive strain associated with its rigid and heavy counterpart.[33–35]”

    From Flexible Electronics and Devices as Human–Machine Interfaces for Medical Robotics (2022) · cites this paper as [34]

    In “Simplicity and Lower Cost” and “Other Characteristics: Light Weight,” the paper describes simpler control and lighter soft actuators than hard counterparts. “Biomedical Uses” describes safe interaction with humans. These passages do not establish that combining soft robotics with e-skin reduces users’ cognitive strain. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Authors
Whitesides, G. M.
Affiliations
Harvard University (US)
Corresponding author
Whitesides, George M.
ORCID
Whitesides, George M.
Venue
Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2018-03-08
Volume
57
Issue
16
Pages
4258-4273
ISSN
  • 1433-7851 (ISSN-L)
  • 1521-3773
DOI
10.1002/anie.201800907
OpenAlex
W4211124276
Semantic Scholar
4899ed6fef8ac75874a202e3458e4a2c1151f926
Cited by
850
References
98
Citations by year
2026: 77 · 2025: 127 · 2024: 121 · 2023: 140 · 2022: 113 · 2021: 113 · 2020: 88 · 2019: 57 · 2018: 14
FWCI
5.54
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • Angewandte Chemie International Edition (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation (1420570)
  • U.S. Department of Energy (# ER45852, DESC0000989)
  • Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
  • Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, Harvard University (DMR- 1420570, 1420570)
  • Hansjörg Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University
  • Division of Materials Research (DMR 14–20570, 1420570)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Soft Robotics and Applications
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Advanced Materials and Mechanics
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Robotic Locomotion and Control
Keywords
soft robotics, soft actuators

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