Review article: A review of control technologies for soft robots: from structural design to intelligent control

Soft robots, with flexible materials and biomimetic structures, show great potential in medical rehabilitation, the exploration of unstructured environments, and precision operations. However, their highly nonlinear, continuously deforming, and difficult-to-model characteristics pose significant challenges for control. This paper provides a systematic review of research progress in the field of soft robotics control: at the mechanical level, the combination of different biomimetic structures, materials, and actuation methods offers diverse motion patterns; kinematic and dynamic modeling methods encompass both classical physics-based theories and modern techniques; trajectory planning focuses on objectives such as obstacle avoidance and time optimization, as well as visual servoing; and control strategies summarize research progress in model-based control and model-free control. Despite significant achievements, soft robots still face challenges such as low drive efficiency and insufficient real-time performance. Future research should overcome these bottlenecks to advance the practical application of soft robots. This paper aims to provide technical references for researchers and promote further development in the field of soft robot control.