Modular design of a polymer-bilayer-based mechanically compliant worm-like robot.

Soft earthwormlike robots that exhibit mechanical compliance can, in principle, navigate through uneven terrains and constricted spaces that are inaccessible to traditional legged and wheeled robots. However, unlike the biological originals which they mimic, most worm-like robots reported to date contain rigid components that limit their compliance, such as electromotors or pressure-driven actuation systems. Here we report a mechanically compliant worm-like robot with a fully modular body that is based on soft polymers. The robot is composed of strategically assembled, electrothermally activated polymer bilayer actuators, which are based on a semicrystalline polyurethane with an exceptionally large nonlinear thermal expansion coefficient. The segments were designed on the basis of a modified Timoshenko model, and finite element analysis simulation was used to describe their performance. Upon electrical activation of the segments with basic waveform patterns, the robot can move through repeatable peristaltic locomotion on exceptionally slippery or sticky surfaces and it can be oriented in any direction. The soft body enables the robot to wriggle through openings and tunnels that are much smaller than its cross-section. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.