We need artificial soft muscles to create new soft robots capable of securely interacting in close proximity with humans as well as performing complex tasks in spaces that are difficult to reach. These devices would ideally be entirely soft, as powerful as genuine muscles, and electrically driven to facilitate integration with the rest of the robot. 
Our recent work on soft actuator composites illustrates the advantages of using biocompatible polymers in conjunction with soft-active materials and presents performance assessment for cardiovascular trials and similar biofluid pumping applications. 
We discovered a material solution that depends on a well-established technology - a dielectric elastomer soft capacitor that deforms in response to an applied electric field. We present a novel design solution involving composite layering of hydrogel and electroactive polymer (HEAP), incorporating hydrogel-based ionotronics and achieving contraction forces comparable to those of real muscles by using a unique mix of nanoscale conductive particles and soft elastomers when high electric fields are applied. 
With dielectric elastomers (DE), we approximate actuator-like behavior in terms of non-hemolytic pumping action and higher energy density to develop more lifelike motion profiles for biorobotic physical models and biomedical assistive devices. In terms of pressure change, HEAP achieves the greatest value measured to date and the flow rate obtained with the HEAP multilayer composite materials is the third highest in the DE-based composite pumping system when taking relevant literature into account. Furthermore, novel surgical instruments, prostheses and artificial limbs, haptic gadgets, and more competent soft robots for exploration are all possible applications.