In recent years, soft robotics has developed considerably, especially since the year 2018 when it became a hot field among current research topics. The attention that this field receives from researchers and the public is marked by the substantial increase in both the quantity and the quality of scientific publications. In this review, in order to create a relevant and comprehensive picture of this field both quantitatively and qualitatively, the paper approaches two directions. The first direction is centered on a bibliometric analysis focused on the period 2008–2022 with the exact expression that best characterizes this field, which is “Soft Robotics”, and the data were taken from a series of multidisciplinary databases and a specialized journal. The second direction focuses on the analysis of bibliographic references that were rigorously selected following a clear methodology based on a series of inclusion and exclusion criteria. After the selection of bibliographic sources, 111 papers were part of the final analysis, which have been analyzed in detail considering three different perspectives: one related to the design principle (biologically inspired soft robotics), one related to functionality (closed/open-loop control), and one from a biomedical applications perspective.

Wearable exoskeleton solutions for upper limb rehabilitation or assistance, particularly for the hand area, have become increasingly attractive to researchers, proving to be effective over time in treating hand movement impairments following various neurological diseases. Our aim in the present work is to design a wearable exoskeleton device for active hand rehabilitation/assist control based on myoelectric signal (EMG) capture from forearm muscles, which is easy to wear by the user, comfortable, lightweight, and relatively inexpensive to make. The actuators use two different lengths to increase biocompatibility with the anatomy of the hand, and PneuNets fluid actuators are used. Their design to meet force and bending requirements was based on finite element numerical simulations, and the actuators were designed based on a clear design methodology to achieve the best possible quality. Tests on healthy subjects show that the EMG-based control strategy meets the needs of rehabilitation/assistive hand therapy, finding a comfortable and easy-to-use device. Future directions will focus on developing the device to meet rehabilitation needs for the entire upper limb and integrating the device into virtual reality (VR) through immersive devices.

This work aims to identify the effects that a series of environmental factors, specific to the industrial conditions, have on the materials in the structure of soft robots and, therefore, on soft robotics systems. The purpose is to understand the changes in the mechanical characteristics of silicone materials, with the aim of transferring soft robotics applications from the sphere of services in the industrial field. Distilled water, hydraulic oil, cooling oil, and UV rays are the environmental factors considered in which the specimens were immersed/exposed for 24 h according to ISO-62/2008. The analysis was carried out on two of the most widely used materials in the field, belonging to the category of silicone rubber, which were subjected to uniaxial tensile tests on the strength testing machine Titan 2 Universal. The results show that the greatest impact on the characteristics of the two materials was when exposed to UV rays, while the other media tested had relatively little impact on the mechanical and elastic properties (tensile strength, elongation at break, and tensile modulus) of these materials.

This paper's scope is to develop an intelligible Finite Element Analysis (FEA) method, utilized to determine and quantify the assembly forces required to assemble the snap-fit component, which is made of a glass fiber reinforced polyamide (type 6, 60% glass fiber, PA6 GF50), as well as to determine the snap-fit joint maximum retention forces. The proposed FEA method is to be used in Abaqus as a standard solver type, considering its operation ease and simplicity in creating the model. The setback of implementing the standard solver approach is that during the snap-fit assembly, at a certain point in the simulation, the behavior is transformed from a static movement to a dynamic one, precisely when the snap moves backward in the assembled position, at this point, due to the dynamic behavior of the simulation, the solution will continue to diverge, and the convergence is not achieved.

The field of smart materials (SMs) is an area of great interest in the scientific community and one that is growing considerably from year to year due to the features this field brings to the development of high-performance products and applications. Considering these aspects, researchers choose to contribute to this field, and every year, an increasing number of scientific publications appear in the databases. Based on this consideration, the present paper approaches the domain of SMs from a quantitative perspective by carrying out a bibliometric analysis to provide young researchers with a mapping of the most important aspects, as well as the evolution of the field. The bibliometric analysis was carried out in the time frame 1990–2022 in the Web of Science (WoS) database, finding only selected research and review articles based on the most relevant keywords used in the domain. Based on the large number of results identified (8998 publications), the authors designed a classification of the most important aspects of bibliometric analysis.

The study investigates the effects of aggressive factors environments commonly found in industrial environments on the elastomeric material TPU 95 A, which is integrated into a multitude of soft robotics applications. Specimens made of TPU 95 A were subjected to aggressive liquid media - cooling oil, distilled water, and ultraviolet radiation (UV-C) to evaluate changes in their mechanical and elastic properties following uniaxial tensile tests. The research, carried out using additive manufacturing technology, highlights the importance of monitoring how the external factors impact elastic and mechanical characteristics of TPU 95 A material. The results obtained after the experimental tests proves to us that the aggressive media analyzed had a greater or lesser influence on the material. By uniaxial tensile tests, it was found that the liquid absorption had a very important impact on the tensile strength of the material. For example, at 1.02% absorption in distilled water, the maximum value of the ultimate strain decreased by 0.257 mm/mm, and at 3.06% absorption in cooling oil, the maximum value of the strain decreased by 0.672 mm/mm.