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Development of a New Multi-cavity Pneumatic-driven Earthworm-like Soft Robot

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2020

Zhijie Tang ,
Jiaqi Lu Open the ORCID record for Jiaqi Lu [Opens in a new window] ,
Zhen Wang Open the ORCID record for Zhen Wang [Opens in a new window] ,
Gaoqian Ma ,
Weiwei Chen  and
Hao Feng
Zhijie Tang
Affiliation:
School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, No.99, Shangda Road, Baoshan District, Shanghai 201900, China. E-mails: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Jiaqi Lu*
Affiliation:
School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, No.99, Shangda Road, Baoshan District, Shanghai 201900, China. E-mails: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Zhen Wang
Affiliation:
School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, No.99, Shangda Road, Baoshan District, Shanghai 201900, China. E-mails: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Gaoqian Ma
Affiliation:
School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, No.99, Shangda Road, Baoshan District, Shanghai 201900, China. E-mails: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Weiwei Chen
Affiliation:
School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, No.99, Shangda Road, Baoshan District, Shanghai 201900, China. E-mails: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
Hao Feng
Affiliation:
School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, No.99, Shangda Road, Baoshan District, Shanghai 201900, China. E-mails: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
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Summary

This paper presents a soft robot which can imitate the crawling locomotion of an earthworm. Locomotion of the robot can be achieved by expanding and contracting the body that is made of flexible material. A link of the earthworm-like robot is combined with three modules, and a multi-cavity earthworm-like soft robot is combined with multiple links. The multiple links of the earthworm-like soft robot are fabricated by silicone in the three-dimensional printed customized molds. Experiments on a single module, two-links, and three-links show that the soft robot can move and bend on condition of modules extension and contraction in a specified gait. The development of the earthworm-like soft robot shows a great prospect in many complicated environments such as pipeline detection.

Keywords

Earthworm-like robotMulti-cavitySoft robotPneumatic actuatorCrawling locomotion
Type
Articles
Information
Robotica , Volume 38 , Issue 12 , December 2020 , pp. 2290 - 2304
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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