From magnetism to action: breakthroughs and challenges in magnetic robot technology

Abstract Magnetic soft robots represent a rapidly evolving frontier within soft robotics, integrating wireless and programmable magnetic actuation with compliant materials to achieve delicate yet complex operations in constrained or inaccessible environments. Their unique ability to couple mechanical flexibility with remote controllability offers distinct advantages over pneumatic, hydraulic, and tendon-driven systems, particularly in biomedical and exploratory contexts. This review is organized to reflect a structure-function-control framework, beginning with an analysis of material and structural design principles (including bioinspired morphologies and magnetic material architectures), followed by a comprehensive discussion of actuation mechanisms and control strategies under both static and dynamic magnetic fields. It then examines application-specific implementations, emphasizing biomedical interventions and precision environmental exploration. Beyond summarizing recent developments, this review provides a critical synthesis of how magnetic coupling, compliance, and control precision can be co-optimized to enhance adaptability and robustness. It further identifies key barriers to real-world deployment-such as the trade-off between magnetic responsiveness and mechanical softness-and proposes future research pathways including intelligent magnetic material design, closed-loop magnetic feedback systems, and hybrid actuation paradigms. Through this perspective, the paper aims to establish a unifying conceptual framework that distinguishes it from prior surveys and guides the development of next-generation magnetic soft robotic systems.