Developing soft electrothermal actuators (ETAs) has drawn extensive concern in recent years. This article presents a comprehensive review on recent progress of soft ETAs through five sections: device design on structure and materials, property, fabrication methods, applications, and prospects. It's found that the fabrication process can be divided into standard surface complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology, novel laser scribing, and inkjet printing method. Moreover, current applications involve three aspects: mechanical applications, optical applications, and biomimetic applications. It will develop in the direction of increasing electrothermal efficiency and response speed emphatically. This review encourages achievement of its higher performance and broad applications in the future.
Keywords: applications; soft electrothermal actuators; soft robotics.