The field of soft robotics is rapidly evolving, and there is a growing interest in developing soft robots with bioinspired features for use in various applications. This research presented the design and development of 3D-printed origami actuators for a soft robot with amphibious locomotion and tongue hunting capabilities. Two different types of programmable origami actuators were designed and manufactured, namely Z-shaped and twist tower actuators. In addition, two actuator variations were developed based on the Z-shaped actuator, including the pelvic fin and the coiling/uncoiling types. The Z-shaped actuators were used for the rear legs to facilitate the locomotion of the water-like frogs. Meanwhile, the twisted tower actuators were used for the rotation joints in the forelegs and for locomotion on land. The pelvic fin actuator was developed to imitate the land locomotion of the mudskipper, and the coiling/uncoiling actuator was designed for tongue hunting motion. The origami actuators and soft robot prototype were tested through a series of experiments, which showed that the robot was capable of efficiently moving in water and on land and performing tongue hunting motions. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of these actuators in producing the desired motions and provide insights into the potential of applying 3D-printed origami actuators in the development of soft robots with bioinspired features.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
RenK, YuJ. Research status of bionic amphibious robots: A review. Ocean Eng, 2021; 227:108862.
2.
HamidiA, AlmubarakY, RupawatYM, et al.Poly-Saora robotic jellyfish: Swimming underwater by twisted and coiled polymer actuators. Smart Mater Struct, 2020; 29(4):045039.
3.
LiG, ChenX, ZhouF, et al.Self-powered soft robot in the Mariana Trench. Nature, 2021; 591(7848):66–71.
4.
FanJ, WangS, YuQ, et al.Swimming performance of the frog-inspired soft robot. Soft Robot, 2020; 7(5):615–626.
5.
WuM, ZhengX, LiuR, et al.Glowing Sucker Octopus (Stauroteuthis syrtensis)—Inspired soft robotic gripper for underwater self-adaptive grasping and sensing. Adv Sci, 2022; 9(17):2104482.
6.
KandhariA, WangY, ChielHJ, et al.An analysis of peristaltic locomotion for maximizing velocity or minimizing cost of transport of earthworm-like robots. Soft Robot, 2021; 8(4):485–505.
7.
ZhangJ, LiuQ, ZhouJ, et al.Crab-inspired compliant leg design method for adaptive locomotion of a multi-legged robot. Bioinspir Biomim, 2022; 17(2):025001.
8.
QiX, ShiH, PintoT, et al.A novel pneumatic soft snake robot using traveling-wave locomotion in constrained environments. IEEE Robot Autom Lett, 2020; 5(2):1610–1617.
9.
NatarajanE, ChiaKY, FaudziAAM, et al.Bio inspired salamander robot with Pneu-Net Soft actuators—Design and walking gait analysis. Bull Polish Acad Sci Techn Sci, 2021; 69:e137055.
10.
BainesR, FishF, Kramer-BottiglioR. Amphibious robotic propulsive mechanisms: Current technologies and open challenges. In: Bioinspired Sensing, Actuation, and Control in Underwater Soft Robotic Systems. (PaleyDA, WereleyNM. eds.) Springer: Cham; 2021; pp. 41–69.
11.
TangY, ZhangQ, LinG, et al.Switchable adhesion actuator for amphibious climbing soft robot. Soft Robot, 2018; 5(5):592–600.
12.
PaschalT, BellMA, SperryJ, et al.Design, fabrication, and characterization of an untethered amphibious sea urchin-inspired robot. IEEE Robot Autom Lett, 2019; 4(4):3348–3354.
13.
LiY, FishF, ChenY, et al.Bio-inspired robotic dog paddling: kinematic and hydro-dynamic analysis. Bioinspir Biomim, 2019; 14(6):066008.
14.
BellMA, WeaverJC, WoodRJ. An ambidextrous starfish-inspired exploration and reconnaissance robot (the ASTER-bot). Soft Robot, 2022; 9(5):991–1000.
15.
WuM, XuX, ZhaoQ, et al.A fully 3D-printed tortoise-inspired soft robot with terrains-adaptive and amphibious landing capabilities. Adv Mater Technol, 2022; 7(12):2200536.
16.
FaudziAAM, RazifMRM, EndoG, et al.Soft-amphibious robot using thin and soft McKibben actuator. In: 2017 IEEE International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM), Munich, Germany; IEEE; 2017; pp. 981–986; doi: 10.1109/AIM.2017.8014146.
17.
MilanaE, Van RaemdonckB, CornelisK, et al.EELWORM: A bioinspired multimodal amphibious soft robot. In 2020 3rd IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), New Haven, CT, USA; 2020; pp. 766–771.
18.
DongH, YangH, DingS, et al.Bioinspired amphibious origami robot with body sensing for multimodal locomotion. Soft Robot, 2022; 9(6):1198–1209.
19.
HwangJ, WangWD. Shape memory alloy-based soft amphibious robot capable of seal-inspired locomotion. Adv Mater Technol, 2022; 7(6):2101153.
20.
BainesR, PatiballaSK, BoothJ, et al.Multi-environment robotic transitions through adaptive morphogenesis. Nature, 2022; 610(7931):283–289.
21.
SonH, ParkY, NaY, et al.4D multiscale origami soft robots: A review. Polymers, 2022; 14(19):4235.
KimW, EomJ, ChoK-J. A dual-origami design that enables the quasisequential deployment and bending motion of soft robots and grippers. Adv Intell Syst, 2022; 4(3):2100176.
TaTD, ChangZ, NarumiK, et al.Printable Origami Bistable Structures for Foldable Jumpers. In 2022 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Philadelphia, PA, USA; 2022; pp. 7131–7137.
26.
LiangD, GaoY, HuangH, et al.Design of a Rigid-Flexible Coupling Origami Gripper. In 2021 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), Sanya, China; 2021; pp. 1283–1287.
27.
LiS, StampfliJJ, XuHJ, et al.A vacuum-driven origami “magic-ball” soft gripper. In 2019 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Montreal, QC, Canada; 2019; pp. 7401–7408.
28.
KimW, SeoB, YuSY, et al.Deployable Soft Pneumatic Networks (D-PneuNets) Actuator with Dual-Morphing Origami Chambers for High-Compactness. IEEE Robot Autom Lett, 2021; 7(2):1262–1269.
29.
HilbyK, PadiaV, HunterI.Design and Analysis of Origami-Inspired, Large-Elongation, Reconfigurable Soft Robot Modules. In 2022 IEEE 5th International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), Edinburgh, United Kingdom; 2022; pp. 132–139.
30.
ZhangQ, FangH, XuJ. Yoshimura-origami based earthworm-like robot with 3-dimensional locomotion capability. Front Robot AI, 2021; 8:738214.
JinT, LiL, WangT, et al.Origami-inspired soft actuators for stimulus perception and crawling robot applications. IEEE Trans Robot, 2021; 38(2):748–764.
33.
MelanconD, ForteAE, KampLM, et al.Inflatable origami: Multimodal deformation via multistability. Adv Funct Mater, 2022; 32(35):2201891.
34.
MiyashitaS, GuitronS, LudersdorferM, et al.An untethered miniature origami robot that self-folds, walks, swims, and degrades. In 2015 IEEE international conference on robotics and automation (ICRA), Seattle, WA, USA; 2015; pp. 1490–1496.
35.
SayedME, RobertsJO, McKenzieRM, et al.Limpet II: A modular, untethered soft robot. Soft Robot, 2021; 8(3):319–339.
36.
SuzukiR, ZhengC, KakehiY, et al.Shapebots: Shape-changing swarm robots. In Proceedings of the 32nd annual ACM symposium on user interface software and technology, New Orleans, LA, USA; 2019; pp. 493–505.
37.
TachiT, MiuraK. Rigid-foldable cylinders and cells. J Int Assoc Shell Spatial Struct, 2012; 53(4):217–226.
BhovadP, KaufmannJ, LiS. Peristaltic locomotion without digital controllers: Exploiting multi-stability in origami to coordinate robotic motion. Extreme Mech Lett, 2019; 32:100552.
41.
LiZ, KidambiN, WangL, et al.Uncovering rotational multifunctionalities of coupled Kresling modular structures. Extreme Mech Lett, 2020; 39:100795.
42.
WuS, ZeQ, DaiJ, et al.Stretchable origami robotic arm with omnidirectional bending and twisting. Proc Natl Acad Sci, 2021; 118(36):e2110023118.
43.
NauwelaertsS, AertsP. Propulsive impulse as a covarying performance measure in the comparison of the kinematics of swimming and jumping in frogs. J Exp Biol, 2003; 206(Pt 23):4341–4351.
44.
AertsP, NauwelaertsS. Environmentally induced mechanical feedback in locomotion: Frog performance as a model. J Theoret Biol, 2009; 261(3):372–378.
45.
PaceCM, GibbAC. Mudskipper pectoral fin kinematics in aquatic and terrestrial environments. J Exp Biol, 2009; 212(14):2279–2286.
46.
SwansonBO, GibbAC. Kinematics of aquatic and terrestrial escape responses in mudskippers. J Exp Biol, 2004; 207(Pt 23):4037–4044.
47.
KleinteichT, GorbSN. Frog tongue acts as muscle-powered adhesive tape. R Soc Open Sci, 2015; 2(9):150333.
ShepherdRF, IlievskiF, ChoiW, et al.Multigait soft robot. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2011; 108(51):20400–20403.
53.
ParkM, KimW, YuS-Y, et al.Deployable soft origami modular robotic arm with variable stiffness using facet buckling. IEEE Robot Autom Lett, 2022; 8(2):864–871.
54.
ZhuR, FanD, WuW, et al.Soft robots for cluttered environments based on origami anisotropic stiffness structure (OASS) inspired by desert iguana. Adv Intell Syst, 2023; 5(6):2200301.
55.
JinL, ForteAE, DengB, et al.Kirigami-inspired inflatables with programmable shapes. Adv Mater, 2020; 32(33):2001863.
56.
KimS-R, LeeD-Y, AhnS-J, et al.Morphing origami block for lightweight reconfigurable system. IEEE Trans Robot, 2020; 37(2):494–505.
57.
XiaM, WangH, YinQ, et al.Design and mechanics of a composite wave-driven soft robotic fin for biomimetic amphibious robot. J Bionic Eng, 2023; 20:934–952.
58.
PatelDK, HuangX, LuoY, et al.Highly dynamic bistable soft actuator for reconfigurable multimodal soft robots. Adv Mater Technol, 2023; 8(2):2201259.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
