Gecko-and-inchworm-inspired untethered soft robot for climbing on walls and ceilings

摘要

The climbing capabilities of living creatures such as geckos, tree frogs, and inchworms provide a promising platform for exploiting biomimetic soft climbing robots, but achieving this promise remains a grand challenge in materials science and engineering. Inspired by the adhesive characteristics of gecko toes and the gait of inchworms, here, we exploit the synergetic interactions of functional material components and design a hybrid biomimetic structure as a holistic soft robot, which can climb on walls and ceilings of different textures including glass, polyimide, and aluminum. In our design, the climbing behavior of the soft robot is based on dynamic attachment/detachment of a gecko adhesive pad and the periodic body deformation of the inchworm. The demonstrated synergetic combination of two biological principles and the assembly of individual components into one holistic soft robot provides scientific insights for utilizing biomimicry for soft robotics.