Recent advances in electro-active polymer (EAP) actuators, owing to their flexibility, lightweight, and simple fabrication process, have showcased their high utility across various fields such as soft robotics, biomimetics, wearable devices, and hapti...
Recent advances in electro-active polymer (EAP) actuators, owing to their flexibility, lightweight, and simple fabrication process, have showcased their high utility across various fields such as soft robotics, biomimetics, wearable devices, and haptic technologies. Moreover, EAP actuators are evolving into smart devices with new functions and characteristics through the integration of functional materials and innovative technologies. This paper categorizes EAPs into ionic EAPs and electronic EAPs. Ionic EAPs include, most notably, ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs) and conducting polymers (CPs), while electronic EAPs encompass dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs), ferroelectric polymer actuators, and the recently introduced hydraulically amplified self-healing electrostatic (HASEL) actuators. Detailed explanations based on the latest research are provided concerning the mechanism, structure, performance improvement strategies, methods for adding functionality, and application areas for each type of actuator.