In contrast to conventional hard actuators, soft actuators offer many vivid advantages, such
as improved flexibility, adaptability, and reconfigurability, which are intrinsic to living …

This review comprises a detailed survey of ongoing methodologies for soft actuators,
highlighting approaches suitable for nanometer‐to centimeter‐scale robotic applications …

Shape-programmable matter is a class of active materials whose geometry can be
controlled to potentially achieve mechanical functionalities beyond those of traditional …

The vast opportunities for biomaterials design and functionality enabled by mimicking nature
continue to stretch the limits of imagination. As both biological understanding and …

Biological photonic structures can precisely control light propagation, scattering, and
emission via hierarchical structures and diverse chemistry, enabling biophotonic …

This review summarizes progress toward programming two-dimensional (2D) polymer
sheets which respond to a variety of external stimuli to form three-dimensional (3D) shapes …

Chiral plasmonic nanomaterials with distinctive circularly polarized light‐dependent optical
responses over a broad range of frequency have great potential for photonic and biomedical …

Polymer hydrogels exhibit actuation properties that result in reversible shape
transformations and have promising applications in soft robotics, drug delivery systems …

Programmable mechanically active materials (MAMs) are defined as materials that can
sense and transduce external stimuli into mechanical outputs or conversely that can detect …

Diverse natural organisms possess stimulus-responsive structures to adapt to the
surrounding environment. Inspired by nature, researchers have developed various smart …