Abstract: Being made of flexile materials, soft-bodied robots can change their size and shape in large range, and have wide potential applications in detection, exploration, succor and medicine. The researches on configuration, actuator, modeling and manufacturing processes for soft-bodied robots are summarized. Soft-bodied robots have been designed and built based on hydrostat skeletons or muscular hydrostats inspired by biology. The actuators utilized in them include physical actuators, i.e. shape memory alloys, pneumatic actuator, electroactive polymers, as well as chemical actuators which transform chemical energy into mechanical energy. The mechanical models of soft-bodied robots are complicated owing to both material and geometric nonlinearities, so they are mainly described approximately by modeling methods of hyper-redundant robots or experimentation. Processes are divided into three categories: soft robot body fabrication, actuators for soft robots and stretchable electronics. Various new manufacturing processes can be applied to soft-bodied robot fabrication, such as shape deposition manufacturing, laser imaging and smart composite microstructure etc. In conclusion, soft-bodied robots are a type of new robot, and research on it is only on the initial stage, involving multi-disciplines such as material science, chemistry, MEMS, hydraulic, control engineering etc. A whole lot of problems in material, design, manufacture, sensor, control as well as application exist to be further researched.

Key words: Chembos, Electroactive polymer, Shape memory alloy, Soft-bodied robots, Stretchable electronics