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Manufacturing, Control, and Performance Evaluation of a Gecko-Inspired Soft Robot

Manufacturing, Control, and Performance Evaluation of a Gecko-Inspired Soft Robot

Published on: June 10, 2020

Kirigami skins make a simple soft actuator crawl.

Ahmad Rafsanjani¹, Yuerou Zhang¹, Bangyuan Liu¹

¹John A. Paulson School of Engineering Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

Science Robotics

|November 3, 2020

Summary

Researchers used kirigami principles to enhance soft actuator crawling. This bioinspired approach creates snake-scale-like surfaces that change friction, enabling efficient locomotion without multiple independent actuators.

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Area of Science:

Robotics
Materials Science
Mechanical Engineering

Background:

Soft machines offer innovative applications but often require complex, multi-actuator systems for locomotion.
Existing soft actuators face limitations in efficient and independent movement.

Purpose of the Study:

To enhance the crawling capability of soft actuators using kirigami principles.
To develop a novel bioinspired locomotion system for soft machines.

Main Methods:

Designed stretchable kirigami surfaces that transform from flat sheets to 3D-textured surfaces via mechanical instabilities.
Investigated the change in frictional properties associated with this surface transformation.
Wrapped the kirigami surfaces around an extending soft actuator to enable crawling.

Main Results:

The kirigami surfaces exhibited a dramatic change in frictional properties upon transforming into 3D textures.
The buckling-induced directional friction of the kirigami surfaces enabled efficient crawling of the soft actuator.
Demonstrated a bioinspired locomotion method mimicking snake-like scaled skin.

Conclusions:

Kirigami principles can significantly improve the locomotion of soft actuators.
The developed bioinspired surfaces offer a novel approach to soft robotics, enabling efficient crawling.
This research opens new avenues for designing advanced soft machines with enhanced mobility.