A minimally designed soft crawling robot for robust locomotion in unstructured pipes

Yu, Wenkai1; Li, Xin1; Chen, Dunyu1; Liu, Jingyi1; Su, Jiaji2; Liu, Ju1; Cao, Changyong2; Yuan, Hongyan1

2022-09-01

10.1088/1748-3190/ac7492

Bioinspiration & Biomimetics   影响因子和分区

1748-3182

1748-3190

Soft robots have attracted increasing attention due to their excellent versatility and broad applications. In this article, we present a minimally designed soft crawling robot (SCR) capable of robust locomotion in unstructured pipes with various geometric/material properties and surface topology. In particular, the SCR can squeeze through narrow pipes smaller than its cross section and propel robustly in spiked pipes. The gait pattern and locomotion mechanism of this robot are experimentally investigated and analysed by the finite element analysis, revealing that the resultant forward frictional force is generated due to the asymmetric mechanical properties along the length direction of the robot. The proposed simple yet working SCR could inspire novel designs and applications of soft robots in unstructured narrow canals such as large intestines or industrial pipelines.

soft crawling robot tendon-driven constant curvature unstructured pipes

SCI ; EI

英语

第一 ; 通讯

National Natural Science Founda tion of China["12072143","12172160"] ; Stable Support Plan Program of Shenzhen Natural Science Fund[20200925155345003] ; Science, Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality[ZDSYS202106 23092005017]

Engineering ; Materials Science ; Robotics

Engineering, Multidisciplinary ; Materials Science, Biomaterials ; Robotics

WOS:000821659300001

IOP Publishing Ltd

20223012387541

Machine design ; Pipelines

Mechanical Design:601 ; Pipe, Piping and Pipelines:619.1 ; Robotics:731.5

Web of Science

1.Southern Univ Sci & Technol, Dept Mech & Aerosp Engn, Shenzhen Key Lab Soft Mech & Smart Mfg, Shenzhen 518055, Peoples R China
2.Case Western Reserve Univ, Dept Mech & Aerosp Engn, Lab Soft Machines & Elect, Cleveland, OH 44106 USA

Yu, Wenkai,Li, Xin,Chen, Dunyu,et al. A minimally designed soft crawling robot for robust locomotion in unstructured pipes[J]. Bioinspiration & Biomimetics,2022,17(5).

Yu, Wenkai.,Li, Xin.,Chen, Dunyu.,Liu, Jingyi.,Su, Jiaji.,...&Yuan, Hongyan.(2022).A minimally designed soft crawling robot for robust locomotion in unstructured pipes.Bioinspiration & Biomimetics,17(5).

Yu, Wenkai,et al."A minimally designed soft crawling robot for robust locomotion in unstructured pipes".Bioinspiration & Biomimetics 17.5(2022).