Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 22, 2025
08:24
Bioinspired Soft Robot with Incorporated Microelectrodes
Published on: February 28, 2020
8.8K
Bioinspired Soft Spine Enables Small-Scale Robotic Rat to Conquer Challenging Environments
Ruochao Wang1,2, Hang Xiao1,3, Xiaolong Quan1,2
1Key Laboratory of Biomimetic Robots and Systems, Beijing Institute of Technology, Ministry of Education, Beijing, China.
Soft Robotics
|July 21, 2023
Summary
Small-scale legged robots can now navigate challenging terrains thanks to a bioinspired soft spine. This innovation significantly enhances robots
Area of Science:
- Robotics
- Bio-inspired Engineering
- Mechanical Design
Background:
- Small-scale legged robots traditionally struggle with complex and challenging environments.
- Limited maneuverability hinders their application in unstructured or confined spaces.
Purpose of the Study:
- To enhance the environmental adaptability and flexibility of small-scale legged robots.
- To introduce a bioinspired soft spine mechanism into a robotic platform.
Main Methods:
- Designed a cable-driven, centrally symmetric soft spine inspired by rat erector spinae muscles and vertebrae.
- Integrated the soft spine into a previously developed robotic rat (SQuRo), creating the SQuRo-S.
- Conducted experiments in various challenging environments to evaluate performance.
Main Results:
- SQuRo-S successfully crossed an obstacle 1.07 times its body height.
- Achieved unprecedented traversal of a narrow space 0.86 times its body width.
- Demonstrated stable locomotion on diverse surfaces (mud-sand, pipes) and inclines (20°), and resilience to external impacts.
Conclusions:
- The integration of a soft spine significantly improves small-scale legged robot adaptability.
- SQuRo-S represents a novel approach for robotic navigation in confined and complex terrains.
- This spine-based design paradigm is scalable and applicable to various legged robot designs.
