Drosophila Larvae-Inspired Soft Crawling Robot with Multimodal Locomotion and Versatile Applications

Qin Fang; Jingyu Zhang; Yinhui He; Nenggan Zheng; Yue Wang; Rong Xiong; Zhefeng Gong; Haojian Lu

doi:10.34133/research.0357

Drosophila Larvae-Inspired Soft Crawling Robot with Multimodal Locomotion and Versatile Applications

Research (Wash D C). 2024 May 3:7:0357. doi: 10.34133/research.0357. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Qin Fang^{1

2}, Jingyu Zhang^{1

2}, Yinhui He³, Nenggan Zheng⁴, Yue Wang^{1

2}, Rong Xiong^{1

2}, Zhefeng Gong³, Haojian Lu^{1

2

5}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Industrial Control and Technology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
² Institute of Cyber-Systems and Control, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
³ Medical School of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
⁴ College of Computer Science and Technology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.
⁵ Stomatology Hospital, School of Stomatology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang Provincial Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Key Laboratory of Oral Biomedical Research of Zhejiang Province, Cancer Center of Zhejiang University, Engineering Research Center of Oral Biomaterials and Devices of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310000, China.

Abstract

Soft crawling robots have been widely studied and applied because of their excellent environmental adaptability and flexible movement. However, most existing soft crawling robots typically exhibit a single-motion mode and lack diverse capabilities. Inspired by Drosophila larvae, this paper proposes a compact soft crawling robot (weight, 13 g; length, 165 mm; diameter, 35 mm) with multimodal locomotion (forward, turning, rolling, and twisting). Each robot module uses 4 sets of high-power-density shape memory alloy actuators, endowing it with 4 degrees of motion freedom. We analyze the mechanical characteristics of the robot modules through experiments and simulation analysis. The plug-and-play modules can be quickly assembled to meet different motion and task requirements. The soft crawling robot can be remotely operated with an external controller, showcasing multimodal motion on various material surfaces. In a narrow maze, the robot demonstrates agile movement and effective maneuvering around obstacles. In addition, leveraging the inherent bistable characteristics of the robot modules, we used the robot modules as anchoring units and installed a microcamera on the robot's head for pipeline detection. The robot completed the inspection in horizontal, vertical, curved, and branched pipelines, adjusted the camera view, and twisted a valve in the pipeline for the first time. Our research highlights the robot's superior locomotion and application capabilities, providing an innovative strategy for the development of lightweight, compact, and multifunctional soft crawling robots.