Yizong Li1,Shanshan Yao1
Stony Brook University1
Soft robots that are untethered have the potential to revolutionize medical monitoring due to their minimally invasive nature. Although progress has been made in the design and activation of these robots, given the intricate and ever-changing environment of the human body, there is still a need for a comprehensive untethered soft robot that can adapt to different environments. Taking inspiration from the locomotion of snakes, we introduce a soft kirigami robot that overcomes these challenges. This robot can deploy sensors, perform real-time wireless sensing, and adapt to a wide range of environments within the human body. Its capabilities include deployability, steerability, obstacle crossing, locomotion in both wet and dry conditions, climbing, inverted crawling, exceptional load capacity (up to 150 times its own weight), and high-speed locomotion (0.25 body lengths per second at 1 Hz actuation). By demonstrating these comprehensive locomotion abilities, the soft kirigami robot showcases its potential for various biomedical applications.