Biomimicry in Soft Robotics Actuation and Locomotion

Abstract

Animals have evolved over billions of years to adapt to their surroundings via natural selection, ensuring that the most optimal biological systems will survive. Biomimicry solves engineering problems by taking solutions from analogous biological systems. The advent of robotic ubiquity has brought along a need for radical change in the foundations of robotics and taking bioinspiration is the subsequent step in creating the next generation of adaptive robots. Incorporating soft robotics into actuating and locomotive systems theoretically provides infinite degrees of freedom, as well as allow safe and delicate interaction with humans and the environment. The future challenges of robotics will be to further develop the abilities for robots to grow, self-heal, and adapt their morphology to their surroundings. This review will analyze and discuss current examples of biomimetic actuation and locomotion, their relevance, and the future of these technologies.