• This review provides an overview of recent developments in soft ionic sensors inspired by biological sensory systems, focusing on their material properties and working principles.
• The features and working principles of natural and artificial sensing systems are investigated in terms of six categories: vision, tactile, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, and proximity sensing.
• The challenges encountered in developing soft ionic sensors and the future research directions to overcome these issues are discussed.
• Soft ionic materials offer flexibility, stretchability, and ionic conductivity, enabling replication of biological signal transmission for high-performance artificial sensors.