Integration of Smart Piezoelectric Devices into Robotic and Wearable Medical Systems Driven by Smart Digital Tools

This narrative review aims to analyze and highlight the potential of piezoelectric biomedical devices for actuation and sensing tasks, enabling reliable, high-precision results in innovative applications driven by smart digital tools. This encompasses high-precision actuation for robotic interventions, as well as observation, monitoring, and organic function support tasks using wearable sensors and actuators. The nature of these applications drives the development of high-precision technological tools, highly accurate medical robotic operations, and reliable wearable devices. Precision operations involve robotic structures actuated directly by integrated piezoelectric materials-configured as traveling-wave beams or plates-or robotic joints actuated by piezoelectric deformation converted into motion. These devices can perform surgical interventions or facilitate targeted drug delivery. As for wearable devices, they are placed in close proximity to the body or integrated directly into it. They can perform passive or targeted tasks through interaction with body tissues. They provide sensing, recognition, monitoring, and control functions-thereby contributing to diagnosis, health status tracking, and prognosis-as well as active assistance functions, such as stimulating organic functions or aiding limbs with sensorimotor impairments. The article examines medical devices intended for sensing, monitoring, assistance, and intervention; sensors and actuators based on smart materials; piezoelectric-based robotic and wearable medical systems; and their integration into autonomous medical systems driven by smart digital tools. The various themes of this narrative review, while distinct, are supported by examples from the literature.