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Study on nonlinear crawling locomotion of modular differential drive soft robot

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Abstract

This paper presents a novel modular differential drive soft robot (MDDSR) and its nonlinear model of crawling locomotion. The MDDSR consists of three differential drive soft modules (DDSMs) in series, and each module constructed by two bending soft actuators in parallel to be equally or differentially driven can achieve inchworm-like crawling movement with capability of straight and steering motion. Through sequential motions of the DDSMs, the MDDSR can perform straight and steering crawling locomotion. A nonlinear state-space kinematic model with the principle of minimum frictional work is built to characterize the MDDSR’s crawling locomotion, which is based on nonlinear bending behavior of the soft actuator and nonlinear crawling motion of the DDSMs. Feasibility of the proposed robot and its model is verified through locomotion experiments.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 51475300 and 51875335, and Joint fund of the Ministry of Education No. 18GFA-ZZ07-171.

Funding

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51475300 and 51875335) and Joint fund of the Ministry of Education (No.18GFA-ZZ07-171).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute of Robotics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Dongchuan Road 800, Shanghai, 200240, People’s Republic of China

    Jiangbei Wang, Jian Min, Yanqiong Fei & Wu Pang

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  1. Jiangbei Wang
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  2. Jian Min
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  3. Yanqiong Fei
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  4. Wu Pang
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Correspondence to Yanqiong Fei.

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Wang, J., Min, J., Fei, Y. et al. Study on nonlinear crawling locomotion of modular differential drive soft robot. Nonlinear Dyn 97, 1107–1123 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11071-019-05035-0

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