We have developed several innovative designs for a new kind of robot that uses peristalsis, the method of locomotion used by earthworms. Unlike previous wormlike robots, our concept uses a continuously deformable outer mesh that interpolates the body position between discrete actuators. In this video we summarize our progress with this soft hyper-redundant robot.
This video won the "Best Video" award at the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA ‘12): icra2012.org/awards
Boxerbaum, A.S., Horchler, A.D., Shaw, K.M., Chiel, H.J., Quinn, R.D., (2012) Worms, Waves, and Robots: The Worm Turns… and Runs, 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA ‘12), 3537–3538, St. Paul, MN, May 14–18 dx.doi.org/10.1109/ICRA.2012.6224805