Amid the ever-advancing landscape of industrial robotics, soft robots in particular have attracted substantial attention due to their remarkable structural adaptability and high efficiency and stability in dynamic environments. Living organisms are, in essence, natural soft robots, composed of diverse and efficient soft organs, each precisely performing assigned functions as a result of a long-term evolution. Fundamental components of organisms, such as material, designs, and working mechanisms, have been a paradigmatic model for the development of soft robots. Recently, these researches have been boosted with the advancement in hydrogel, a synthetic material that closely resembles the constituents of living organisms. The distinctive features of hydrogel - softness, stimuli-responsiveness, biocompatibility, ionicity, and transparency - have enabled the reproduction of nature-inspired strategies, significantly contributing to the progress in soft robots. In this review, we discuss how these properties have been exploited in various applications in soft robots to emulate blueprints found in nature. Moreover, we provide insightful perspectives on overcoming obstacles and research directions, offering a glimpse into future of soft robots.

中文翻译：

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用于仿生软机器人的水凝胶

在工业机器人技术不断发展的背景下，软体机器人因其卓越的结构适应性以及动态环境中的高效率和稳定性而受到广泛关注。生物体本质上是天然的软机器人，由多样化、高效的软器官组成，每个软器官经过长期进化，精确地执行指定的功能。生物体的基本组成部分，例如材料、设计和工作机制，一直是软机器人开发的范例模型。最近，随着水凝胶的进步，这些研究得到了推动，水凝胶是一种与生物体成分非常相似的合成材料。水凝胶的独特特征——柔软性、刺激响应性、生物相容性、离子性和透明性——使受自然启发的策略得以复制，为软机器人的进步做出了重大贡献。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了如何在软机器人的各种应用中利用这些特性来模拟自然界中发现的蓝图。此外，我们还提供了有关克服障碍和研究方向的富有洞察力的观点，让人们可以一睹软机器人的未来。