Locomotion Performance of Soft Actuator with Auxetic-typed Armored Structure

Abstract

Soft robots employing soft polymer materials such as gels and elastomers have various advantages such as compact, lightweight, and silent motion. Recently, biomimetic structures driven by pneumatic control have been attracting attention though various driving sources have been proposed. In this study, we have fabricated cylinder-shaped soft robot with an armored (exoskeleton-like) auxetic structure with a negative poisson's ratio that placed around bellows-typed tube. We have investigated the structural variability and walking performance of the armored cylinder structure.