UC Berkeley

Soft robotics, exploiting compliant and deformable bodies, has a great potential in constructing robots that can navigate unstructured environments by exploiting their flexibility and adaptability. To achieve successful and efficient locomotion, understanding the interaction between the robot body and the environment is essential. In this thesis, I introduce two soft robot designs that achieve locomotion over an unstructured surface using flexible structures. First, I present an elongating ribbon robot that achieves locomotion on an adhesive terrain using wave propagation. Inspired by the pedal waves of snails, this type of locomotion enables a rolling interaction between the flexible member and the surface, and can achieve energy-efficient locomotion. The second robot design is a burrowing robot that locomotes in granular media with the help of origami feet. The feet are compliant deployable structures that induce anisotropic frictional force responses in granular media. Together, these two prototypes demonstrate the use of novel soft robotic mechanisms that enable locomotion in the face of complex interactions with surrounding environments and terrains.