Piezoelectric Actuators 2008: Key Factors for Commercialization

2008 marks the 30th year after the piezo-actuator boom started. The basic required technologies seem to be maturing and a drastic cost reduction period started. It is time to review the development history, analyze the present problems, and find the strategies to move forward to wide commercialization of the piezo actuator, as the key electro-mechanical component in the 21st century. This paper is Part II of the review paper “Piezoelectric Actuators 2006” presented previously [1], which covered various application areas of actuators, from information technology/robotics, bio- and medical engineering, to ecological and energy technologies. If the reader has not read this article, it is recommended to so first.