Investigations on Bending Characteristics of Soft Mesh Structure using Shape Memory Alloy Spring Towards Bio-Inspired Robotic Applications

Abstract

A biomimetic soft worm robot has been developed using soft mesh structured polyethylene terephthalate thermoplastic driven by shape memory alloy springs. The bending behaviour of the robot for achieving steering in peristaltic and bending for two anchor locomotion has been investigated in detail. A flex sensor is attached with the soft worm to measure the bending/steering angle. An open-loop control approach is adopted for the study of soft worm’s bending actions. In peristaltic crawling, a bending angle of 57°, 48° and 48° was achieved in upward, left and right directions, respectively. The movement of the soft worm robot has been probed towards imitating the bending action of two anchor crawling locomotion with kapton polyamide legs. In two anchor crawling, a bending angle of 60° is achieved in downward direction. © 2020, Shiraz University.