The present thesis introduces the evaluation results of the applicability of Electroactice Polymer Actuators (EAP) to the deflection portion of endoscopic devices. Following the ambition to extend the accessible kinematic degree of freedom recent lags regarding handling of medical endoscopes should be resolved. Besides this trendsetting technological fundamentals for upcoming therapeutic and diagnostic methods should be established. As mitigation the degree of motion of the active distortion portion should be extended to be able to show in any radial direction without turning the endoscope shaft. Today’s developers of medical endoscopes have to deal with strong space limitations for the implementation of endoscopic distortion assemblies. This functional area is occupied with a number of application-related sub-assemblies. Fibre optical waveguides for illumination and image aquisition, electrical lines and instrument pipes reserve most of the total profile. Approximately 35 % of the profile are reserved for the bending mechanism and an outside protection tubing. This situation motivates the development of a highly integrated bending tube actuator. As promising technology Dielectric Elastomer Actuators (DEA) offer good characteristics to realize an applicable concept. Because of the critical space situation the implementation of an inherent support structure is favorized. For this the actuator electrodes should be designed as rigid support structure. With the present results an optimal design concept is introduced and properties of its different components and variations of those are discussed. By explaining different concepts the worldwide first Electroactive-Bending-Tube-Actuator with rigid actuator electrodes for endoscopic applications is introduced. For the specification of the actuation performance a geometry- and material-related mathematical model is derived. The conclusions are based on theoretical examinations, test results and comparisons with finite element analysis. By application of the investigated dielectric Wacker Silpuran 2400 and under consideration of the geometry of state-of-the art cystoscopes a maximum axial force of 95 mN is predicted. An improvement of this force larger than 1 N is potentially feasible by variation of the dielectric. As conclusion the developed bending-tube-actuator-concept is applicable to carry a light source or a camera module for endoscopic lighting and observation purposes. A major limitation is given by the low axial forces. This avoids to guide further instruments through the inner diameter of the actuator. Besides already known dielectric materials the novel Wacker Silpuran 2400 has been discovered as applicable biocompatible elastomer. The electrostatic pressure of 26,5 kPa is 2,2 times of the already known WackerElastosil P7670. The fabrication of the actuator assembly turns out to be a strong challenge. Thus different fabrication technologies for individual components of the actuator are verified by practical test setups. As conclusion recommended fabrication technologies are pointed out and combined to an overall manufacturing concept. With perspective on further investigations the concept on an optimized tube-actuator is introduced. With this concept the properties of compliant electrodes are combined with rigid electrode structures to a hybrid-actuator-concept. In addition to medical devices further applications for optical lenses, a micro-gripper and a peristaltic-tube are presented.