Although guest-filled carbon nanotube yarns provide record performance as torsional and tensile artificial muscles, they are expensive, and only part of the muscle effectively contributes to actuation. We describe a muscle type that provides higher performance, in which the guest that drives actuation is a sheath on a twisted or coiled core that can be an inexpensive yarn. This change from guest-filled to sheath-run artificial muscles increases the maximum work capacity by factors of 1.70 to 2.15 for tensile muscles driven electrothermally or by vapor absorption. A sheath-run electrochemical muscle generates 1.98 watts per gram of average contractile power-40 times that for human muscle and 9.0 times that of the highest power alternative electrochemical muscle.Theory predicts the observed performance advantages of sheath-run muscles.

Smart textiles based on actuator materials are of practical interest, but few types have been commercially exploited. The challenge for researchers has been to bring the concept out of the laboratory by working out how to build these smart materials on an industrial scale and permanently incorporate them into textiles. Smart textiles are considered as the next frontline for electronics. Recent developments in advance technologies have led to the appearance of wearable electronics by fabricating, miniaturizing and embedding flexible conductive materials into textiles. The combination of textiles and smart materials have contributed to the development of new capabilities in fabrics with the potential to change how athletes, patients, soldiers, first responders, and everyday consumers interact with their clothes and other textile products. Actuating textiles in particular, have the potential to provide a breakthrough to the area of smart textiles in many ways. The incorporation of actuating materials in to textiles is a striking approach as a small change in material anisotropy properties can be converted into significant performance enhancements, due to the densely interconnected structures. Herein, the most recent advances in smart materials based on actuating textiles are reviewed. The use of novel emerging twisted synthetic yarns, conducting polymers, hybrid carbon nanotube and spandex yarn actuators, as well as most of the cutting–edge polymeric actuators which are deployed as smart textiles are discussed.

There is an urgent need for ventricular assist devices (VADs) that can assist in complex biological functions such as the contraction of heart muscle. Although the design improvements implemented with each generation of VADs have helped to increase patient's wellbeing. But the portability, implantability due to the bulkiness, and the lack of pulsatility are continuing to be clinical challenges. In addition, contact between blood and artificial surfaces remains, necessitating long‐term blood‐thinning medications for patients with VADs. Herein, a concept of new VADs is demonstrated that may provide an improved power system with miniaturization and pulsatility control. This work will examine this new generation of electrically contractile polymer‐based actuators for positive inotropic support for both the left and right ventricle (high‐ and low‐pressure system) as cardiomyoplasty. A silicone coated electrothermal actuator is fabricated to engineer VAD, which is able to mimic the pressure on a model. This represents the first successful study demonstrating that artificial muscle can be a decent alternative to support patients with heart muscle weaknesses.

Over the past twenty years continuous flow‐ventricular assist devices (VADs) have quantitatively become the main instrument for the treatment of end‐stage heart failure. However, due to the need for anticoagulation and lack of pulsatility their greatest challenges remain infections, bleedings and thromboembolic events. In article number 2000894, Javad Foroughi and co‐workers present an alternative that eliminates the need for anticoagulation and offers a physiologic pulsatile flow where the heart merely acts as a reservoir for blood that is propelled by an electrically contractile artificial muscle wrapped around the heart (WRAP‐VAD).