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Maturation of robotics research and advances in the miniaturization of machines have contributed to the development of microbots and enabled new technological possibilities and applications. Microbots have a wide range of applications, including the navigation of confined spaces, environmental monitoring, micro‐assembly and manipulation of small objects, and in vivo micro‐surgeries and drug delivery. Actuators are among the most critical components that define the performance of robots. A comprehensive review of the actuation mechanisms that have been employed in mobile microbots is provided, including piezoelectric, magnetic, electrostatic, thermal, acoustic, biological, chemical, and optical actuation, with a focus on the most recent development and methodologies.

Il progetto SPLATT e un'attivita di ricerca tecnologica, finanziata da INAF, nel campo degli specchi primari attivi per telescopi spaziali di prossima generazione. Lo scopo e dimostrare in laboratorio che gli specchi attivi con attuatori contactless sono di fatto insensibili ai disturbi originati dal telescopio e possono essere quindi un elemento chiave per ridurre complessita e costo. Parole chiave: telescopio spaziale, specchio attivo, ottica attiva, LUVOIR. The SPLATT project is a technological research activity funded by INAF, in the field of primary active mirrors for next generation space telescopes. The goal is to demonstrate that active mirrors with contactless actuators are insensitive to disturbance from the telescope and can therefore be key-elements in the reduction of complexity and cost. Keywords: space telescopes, active mirror, active optics, LUVOIR.

Fluid‐Driven Elastomer Actuators In article number 2200330, Kirstin H. Petersen and co‐workers present fluidic actuators in which viscous fluids propagate in a scalable framework manifesting control of the structure by the structure, generating pressure distributions within each actuator ‐ achieving interchangeable, spatio‐temporal motions with a single inlet. Through theory and experiments, the article introduces the foundation of a design methodology, unlocking significantly more capable and competitive soft robots.

Piezoelectric actuators are a class of actuators that precisely transfer input electric energy into displacement, force, or movement outputs efficiently via inverse piezoelectric effect-based electromechanical coupling. Various types of piezoelectric actuators have sprung up and gained widespread use in various applications in terms of compelling attributes, such as high precision, flexibility of stoke, immunity to electromagnetic interference, and structural scalability. This paper systematically reviews the piezoelectric materials, operating principles, representative schemes, characteristics, and potential applications of each mainstream type of piezoelectric actuator. Herein, we intend to provide a more scientific and nuanced perspective to classify piezoelectric actuators into direct and indirect categories with several subcategories. In addition, this review outlines the pros and cons and the future development trends for all kinds of piezoelectric actuators by exploring the relations and mechanisms behind them. The rich content and detailed comparison can help build an in-depth and holistic understanding of piezoelectric actuators and pave the way for future research and the selection of practical applications.

Stacked Balloon Actuators In article number 2200085, Jacob Rogatinsky, Tommaso Ranzani, and co‐workers introduce a class of soft actuators capable of large deformations despite folding nearly flat when deflated, making them capable to adapt to minimal space conditions without sacrificing the ability to complete dexterous tasks. Such features make them suitable to operate in Complex environments, such as those found in surgical and search‐and‐rescue applications.

This paper investigates the robust H[infinity] fault-tolerant controller design under actuator failure for a class of the stochastic Markov jump time-delay systems with parameter uncertainties. The existence condition of the state feedback robust H[infinity] fault-tolerant controller with actuator failure is presented. The robust H[infinity] fault-tolerant control algorithm is derived in the form of linear matrix inequality via the Lyapunov stability theory. The proposed control does not need to estimate the boundary value of an actuator fault, nor does it depend on fault detection and diagnostic devices. By solving the linear matrix inequality, a robust fault-tolerant controller, which makes the closed-loop system asymptotically stable and whose H[infinity] performance is restricted by a given bound, is designed such that its structure is comparably simpler and does not require a large number of calculations. The designed controller is applied to a U AV illustrative example. The numerical results and computer simulation demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed fault-tolerant control.

Camera attitude control systems for robots require a compact structure and high responsiveness. However, due to the combination structure of several actuators, the camera attitude control system is large. To address this issue, this study proposes a three-degree-of-freedom (3DOF) voice coil actuator. A single actuator is used to generate 3DOF motion, which is driven by a four-phase current. This study also describes the basic structure and operating principle of the actuator and clarifies the torque characteristics using a three-dimensional (3D) finite element method (FEM). Furthermore, the dynamic modeling and control methods are presented. The FEM and dynamic simulation results reveal that the proposed actuator can be arbitrarily driven in 3DOF.

Soft Actuators The cover picture illustrates a soft magneto‐responsive gripper that catches a blueberry mid‐flight. The gripper, presented in article number 2000283 by André R. Studart and co‐workers, is made from a silicone composite with strontium ferrite particles and is programmed to actuate under the action of an external magnetic field. It can lift up to 100 times its own weight and fully closes in less than 0.5 seconds.