A Review of Soft Robots <s> Manufacturing processes of soft robots <s> The remarkable advances of robotics in the last fifty years, which represent an incredible wealth of knowledge, are based on the fundamental assumption that robots are chains of rigid links. The use of soft materials in robotics, driven not only by new scientific paradigms (biomimetics, morphological computation, and others), but also by many applications (biomedical, service, rescue robots, and many more), is going to overcome these basic assumptions and makes the well-known theories and techniques poorly applicable, opening new perspectives for robot design and control.The current examples of soft robots represent a variety of solutions for actuation, and control. Though very first steps, they have the potential for a radical technological change. Soft robotics is not just a new direction of technological development, but a novel approach to robotics, unhinging its fundamentals, with the potential to produce a new generation of robots, in the support of humans in our natural environments. <s> BIB001 </s> A Review of Soft Robots <s> Manufacturing processes of soft robots <s> Conventionally, engineers have employed rigid materials to fabricate precise, predictable robotic systems, which are easily modelled as rigid members connected at discrete joints. Natural systems, however, often match or exceed the performance of robotic systems with deformable bodies. Cephalopods, for example, achieve amazing feats of manipulation and locomotion without a skeleton; even vertebrates such as humans achieve dynamic gaits by storing elastic energy in their compliant bones and soft tissues. Inspired by nature, engineers have begun to explore the design and control of soft-bodied robots composed of compliant materials. This Review discusses recent developments in the emerging field of soft robotics. <s> BIB002
In the field of soft robotics, the lack of reliable and robust soft actuators has been one of the setbacks in developing soft robots BIB001 . However, the emergence of new technologies in this field is stimulating more research interests. One of these is the development of flexible or soft material which is crucial and fundamental for the development of soft robots [ibid] . A soft robot integrates the sub-systems of a conventional robot which are, actuation system, sensing system, stretchable electronics, a computation and control system, power source as well as modelling and kinematics BIB002 . The manufacturing steps of the various sub-systems would be highlighted subsequently.