Pneumatic Soft Robotic Crawler Integrated With a Precurved Actuator Enables Fast Locomotion

This study presents a soft crawler robot based on fluidic prestressed composite (FPC) actuators. The robot is precurved and is actuated by pneumatic pressure. Prestress is applied to an elastomeric matrix composite (EMC) layer in the actuator, resulting in precurved shapes, high stiffness, and zero energy costs in maintaining curved shapes. A crawler robot prototype is fabricated, and the fabrication process is presented. The robot's capability to efficiently crawl is demonstrated using two one-way wheels with uni-directional frictional characteristics. The fabricated crawler has shown multiple favorable character-istics, including low mass (45 g), large step size (73.2 mm), and high speed (95 mm/s). In addiiton, the robot's response time to pressurized deformation and unpressurized restoration is less than 125 ms. It is found that higher pressure can generate longer step sizes, greater velocity, and quicker responses.