This review presents a detailed survey of Dielectric Elastomer Actuators (DEAs) and their emerging role in medical applications. DEAs are distinguished by their flexibility, low weight, and excellent biocompatibility, making them well-suited for a wide range of medical devices. The review explores the fundamental electro-mechanical principles behind DEA operation, which enable their remarkable ability to replicate natural muscle movements. Key applications discussed include biomedical devices, rehabilitation systems, in-vivo implants, and wearable health monitors, where DEAs offer dynamic, lifelike movements and precise control. Their ability to provide highly flexible and responsive actuation is a major advantage in medical technologies. However, challenges persist, particularly in terms of material durability, the need for high-voltage activation, and the integration of DEAs with existing medical technologies. By synthesizing recent research and highlighting ongoing hurdles, this review emphasizes the transformative potential of DEAs, offering a comprehensive look at their current state and future impact on next-generation medical devices.

Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) have gained significant attention due to their potential in soft robotics and adaptive structures. However, their performance is often limited by their in-plane strain distribution and limited mechanical stability. We introduce a novel design utilizing fiber reinforcement to address these challenges. The fiber reinforcement provides enhanced mechanical integrity and improved strain distribution, enabling efficient energy conversion and out-of-plane displacement. We discuss an analytical model and the fabrication process, including material selection, to realize fiber-reinforced DEAs. Numerical simulations and experimental results demonstrate the performance of the fiber-reinforced equibiaxial DEAs and characterize their displacement and force capabilities. Actuators with four and eight fibers are fabricated with 100 $\mathsf{\mu }$m and 200 $\mathsf{\mu }$m dielectric thicknesses. A maximal out-of-plane displacement of 500 $\mathsf{\mu }$m is reached, with a force of 0.18 N, showing promise for the development of haptic devices.

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Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) offer a high degree of stretchability along with biocompatibility, making them valuable for biomedical applications. However, in order to effectively control the desired strain response of the DEA, it is crucial to identify the factors that influence the extent of actuation. This study focuses on the strain optimization of an equibiaxial DEA by employing design of experiment methods to investigate the influence of different factors. DEAs and their applications rely on various parameters. In this study, the effect of selected parameters are examined using a full factorial model and a fractional factorial model approach. Through these methods, the significant impact of pre-stretch and electric field on the resulting strain is highlighted. Furthermore, the interactions of thickness with diameter and pre-stretch with electric field are analysed, yielding half-effect coefficients equal to 0.25, 0.68, 0.1 and 0.18, respectively.

This work presents a soft robotic fish that achieves large‐amplitude tail fin bending through a novel design where dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are functionally integrated to form the body. The challenge of combining structure and actuation is addressed by utilizing the bending of fiber‐reinforced DEAs to create three‐dimensional, hollow shapes. This active skin is prestretched against a flexible spring steel spine, forming a negative stiffness biasing system that enables large, efficient displacements. An analytical model based on energy landscapes is developed to predict and optimize the system's bistable switching and is subsequently experimentally validated. The prototype demonstrates a peak‐to‐peak fin tip displacement of about 55 mm at a low nominal electrical field‐strength of 60 V/ μm and achieves a forward swimming speed of 6 cm/s at an actuation frequency of 6 Hz. This research establishes a new approach for exploiting mechanical anisotropy to create a integrated, bio‐mimetic soft robotic fish.

With the ongoing journey of automation advancements and a trend towards miniaturization, the choice of actuator plays a crucial role. Over recent years, soft actuators have demonstrated their usefulness in various applications, especially where light weight and high strain are required. Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) are a class of soft actuators that provide high-strain actuation possibilities in applications like biomedicine, logistics, or consumer electronics. A variety of work featuring DEAs for actuation has been carried out in recent years, but a single work detailing the design conception, fabrication, modeling and experimental validation is lacking, especially in the context of achieving high strains with the integration of multiple electrodes and their interaction. This work discusses these issues with an equibiaxial DEA, enabling optimized equibiaxial strain patterns due to full use of the available actuation area. The developed DEA can achieve an equibiaxial strain of 12.75% for actuation at 60 V μm⁻¹ over an active area of 7 cm² which is an improvement of 1.3 times compared to traditional dot actuators. These properties position the device as a promising alternative for various applications like cell cultures or microassembly and provide an advantage of optimized use of passive regions within the actuator.