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Soft pneumatic robotics have attracted considerable attention in recent years due to their deformation capabilities, which far exceed those of conventional robotics. However, precise control of soft pneumatic actuators remains a challenge due to the lack of model-based control techniques. This work aims to employ a high-precision and low-cost backpropagation (BP) neural network-based model method to control a 3D soft pneumatic actuator. Experiments show that this BP neural network-based model control method performs well in terms of precision, in which the errors of bending angle and deflection angle are within 0.8° and 1.2°, respectively, and the end point position error of the soft actuator is less than 2.5 mm, which is significantly better than traditional modeling methods, demonstrating the application potential of soft robots for high-precision operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the global aging population increases, the demand for rehabilitation of elderly hand conditions has attracted increased attention in the field of wearable sensors. Owing to their distinctive anti-electromagnetic interference properties, high sensitivity, and excellent biocompatibility, optical fiber sensors exhibit substantial potential for applications in monitoring finger movements, physiological parameters, and tactile responses during rehabilitation. This review provides a brief introduction to the principles and technologies of various fiber sensors, including the Fiber Bragg Grating sensor, self-luminescent stretchable optical fiber sensor, and optic fiber Fabry–Perot sensor. In addition, specific applications are discussed within the rehabilitation field. Furthermore, challenges inherent to current optical fiber sensing technology, such as enhancing the sensitivity and flexibility of the sensors, reducing their cost, and refining system integration, are also addressed. Due to technological developments and greater efforts by researchers, it is likely that wearable optical fiber sensors will become commercially available and extensively utilized for rehabilitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving independent control of phase and amplitude is pivotal yet challenging for electromagnetic (EM) wave manipulation. Metasurface provides an efficient recipe to this challenge, but most of the work reports so far are still confined in half space (transmission or reflection) and manipulation of linearly polarized EM waves, restricting itself from integrating more functionalities with complex wavefronts into one optoelectronic device. Here, a hybrid phase approach synthesizing propagation and geometric phases is proposed to achieve independent and arbitrary control of amplitude and phase response for circularly polarized (CP) wave in full space by using a non‐interleaved single‐celled metasurface. To validate the concept, a full‐space dual‐channel meta‐hologram is experimentally demonstrated, manifesting images of letters "T" and "R" at lower and upper frequencies (f1 and f2), respectively. The finding of full‐space metasurface opens new possibilities to control CP waves by simultaneous amplitude and phase modulations, which is important for high‐capacity wireless communications, as well as sophisticated functionality, and other advanced meta‐devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]