The field of robotics is witnessing significant advancements in the development of innovative grippers and actuation systems. Researchers are focusing on creating compact, adaptive, and intelligent grippers that can operate in confined spaces and handle diverse objects. These advancements have the potential to revolutionize industries such as manufacturing, logistics, and automation. Noteworthy papers in this area include: DeGrip, a customized gripper designed for disassembly of end-of-life products, which provides three degrees of freedom and enables arbitrary configurations. The SP-Diff parallel gripper system, which employs a differential linkage mechanism to achieve linear-parallel grasping and demonstrates adaptive grasping capabilities for diverse industrial workpieces. The SPD gripper, which features a linear parallel gripping mechanism and possesses adaptive capabilities, accommodating objects of different shapes and sizes. The exploration of bistable tape springs for high-speed linear actuation, which has the potential to enhance soft robotics and innovative structures.