Inchworm-like Robot Locomotion using Off-the-Shelf 3D-printable Anisotropic Friction Pads

The paper reports on the experimental validation of combining inchworm-like locomotion with snake-like scales in anisotropic friction pads. The concept is demonstrated with a developed fully 3D-printable robot with four degrees of freedom. The real locomotion performance is evaluated for three different types of locomotion approaches in five terrain settings using achieved average locomotion speed and cost of transport. Suggested by measured properties, the proposed approach is capable of locomoting on the surfaces with sufficient surface friction difference using pad only and up to slope surface when combining the pads and body.