A plant-inspired kinematic model for growing robots

Abstract

This paper presents a kinematic model inspired by plant growth strategies and used to describe the movement of a robotic root, able to self-build its body structure using a 3D printer-like mechanism embedded in its tip. The proposed model is implemented in simulation and validated through a comparative analysis of the position, in space, of the robotic and simulated tip, obtaining a maximal positional error of ~7% with the smallest curvature radius within a curvature arc of ~10 cm. The model is able to describe the motion of any robot that navigates its environment and moves by growing from the tip in a 3D space, and it has been validated on a plant-inspired robot. The new emerging generation of growing robots offers an alternative locomotion perspective in robotics, which is grounded on the ability of this kind of bioinspired robots to morphologically and dynamically adapt their body to surrounding environments, offering new scenarios of use in search and rescue tasks, and hazardous conditions.