Soft Modular Climbing Robots

Soft climbing robots have elicited widespread attention for their potential applications in inspection, maintenance, and search and rescue tasks. However, these robots face challenges in terms of their adaptability and motion capability in various surface environments, such as surfaces with a large gap or nonflat surfaces. In this article, we develop a soft modular climbing robot called Smcbot, which is assembled based on several soft bodies and feet modules. The soft body module provides large-scale telescopic motion and high output load through two soft actuators made of shape memory alloy wires. Meanwhile, the feet modules provide considerable adhesion on different surfaces due to the applied adhesive strategy. A theoretical model is also developed to predict the output performance (e.g., stiffness and output displacement) of the soft body, and the results are verified through experiments. The adaptability and motion capability of Smcbot is demonstrated on flat and nonflat surfaces with different properties, such as surfaces with a large gap and those with smooth and rough surfaces. This article uses the modular design to expand the application scope of soft climbing robots and to facilitate their adaption to various challenging environments with low time consumption and cost.