Soft tactile sensor and curvature sensor for caterpillar-like soft robot's adaptive motion

Abstract

Soft robots are designed to interact safely with their environment and move through narrow place in a way a rigid robot cannot. In order for the soft robot to be completely soft, it should consist of as more as soft component. In this paper, a PneuNet soft robot imitating bionic caterpillar are fabricated. In addition, the soft tactile sensor and curvature sensor consisted of silicon rubber and liquid metal are made and characterized. The soft robot combine with the sensors to realize the external environment perception and motion detection. The soft robot can adaptively crawl across different height channel without complex control and can measure the height of the channel.