中文摘要：

随着材料学、化学、控制等学科的不断突破,人们对章鱼、蠕虫、海星等软体生物的观察及建模有了突破性进展,并衍生出一门新的机器人研究方向——软体机器人。本文通过回溯软体机器人的发展历程,介绍了近年来软体机器人在材料类型、驱动方式、应用领域等方面取得的进展以及面临的挑战,并结合中国国情展望了软体机器人未来发展的前景与方向。

英文摘要：

With the advancement of the materials science, the chemistry, and the control technology, substantial knowledge about the mollusks is gained, including the octopus, the worm, and the starfish, which helps the development of a new type of robots： the soft robots. This paper reviews the development of the soft robots in recent years, focusing on the potential challenges in the materials, the driving methods, and the fields of applications. With consideration of China＇s national condition, this paper discusses the future prospect of the soft robots.