Abstract: Recently, researchers have concentrated on studying ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) artificial muscle, which has numerous advantages including a relatively large strain under low input voltage, flexibility, high response, low noise, light weight, and high driving energy density. This paper reports recent developments in IPMC artificial muscle, including improvement methods, modeling, and applications. Different types of IPMCs are described, along with various methods for overcoming some shortcomings, including improvement of Nafion matrix membranes, surface preparation of Nafion membranes, the choice of high-performing electrodes, and new electro-active polymers for enhancing the properties of IPMCs. IPMC models are also reviewed, providing theoretical guidance for studying the performance and applications of IPMCs. Successful applications such as bio-inspired robots, opto-mechatronic systems, and medical engineering are discussed.