Multi-material 3D printing of caterpillar-inspired soft crawling robots with the pneumatically bellow-type body and anisotropic friction feet

Abstract

Due to large shape-changing ability and high adaptability, soft crawling robots become a promising candidate in applications with unpredictable terrain and complex environments. However, designing and fabricating of soft crawling robots with hybrid soft and rigid components are still elusive. Here, we present a novel caterpillar inspired pneumatically-driven soft crawling robot, which can be directly 3D printed with multiple materials and without complex assembling process. To mimic the biological structure and morphological locomotion of caterpillars, we design the soft crawling robot with a pneumatically driven bellow-type body, 12 anisotropic frictional feet, and two end caps, and introduce a passive synergy locomotion model between the crawling robot’s body and feet. By selecting different cross-section shape of the feet, we characterize the moving performance of soft crawling robots. Finally, we integrate a pneumatic closed-loop control system to drive the soft crawling robots with a periodic gait and demonstrate their motion capability in a curve plastic tube.