A Review of Fiber-Shape Rolled Dielectric Elastomer Actuators: A Pivotal Pathway in Advancing Bionic Actuation

Dielectric Elastomer Actuators (DEAs) demonstrate tremendous application potential in the field of flexible actuation due to their excellent actuation performance. Rolled Dielectric Elastomer Actuators (RDEAs) in the form of fibers, featuring a bionic actuation form that more closely mimics the biological motion, enable a more natural actuation mode. This review systematically elaborates on the typical physical configurations and core actuation mechanisms of RDEAs, and sorts out the key geometric parameters and output performance characteristics of RDEAs in existing research. Through practical examples, it showcases the application achievements of robot systems based on RDEAs in multiple fields, covering areas such as crawling robots, bionic robots, end-effectors, and interactive devices. Finally, the paper conducts an in-depth analysis of the key challenges currently faced by RDEAs, including the improvement of output performance, the optimization of preparation and integration technologies, and the adaptation to human-robot collaboration scenarios. Based on this analysis, it proposes the key future development directions.