Abstract: Soft robots are made of soft materials and can be freely changed in size. Compared with rigid robots, soft robots own merits such as high flexibility,adaptability and safely human-machine interactivity.They have been favored by researchers at home and abroad for their broad application prospects in the fields of industry,agriculture,medical care, disaster relief,etc. The materials，production methods，drive methods，application fields，sensing and control methods of soft robots were reviewed. The new development in soft robots materials and production methods were introduced. According to drive methods,soft robots were divided into fluid-driven robots,intelligent material-driven robots，and chemical reaction-driven robots.In addition, their characteristics and typical structure were summarized. The modeling method and control strategy of the soft robots were introduced and analyzed. It concludes that developingvariable stiffness materials,efficient manufacturing and precise control methods is a promising directions of soft robot research.

Key words: soft robot, actuation, bionics, senor and control, soft materials, research development