Inchworm Inspired Pneumatic Soft Robot Based on Friction Hysteresis

Abstract

In this paper, we present an inchworm-inspired pneumatic soft robot that requires only one degree-of-freedom control to generate continuous linear locomotion on various surfaces. The locomotion is realized by the friction hysteresis resulting from the deformability of one robot leg, which is passively enabled by the robot design. The inchworm robot is made of a single material, has a single degree of freedom, and only requires the air pressure as a single-channel control signal to realize continuous locomotion.