The caterpillar-like robot developed by the North Carolina researchers could offer a new approach to locomotion for soft robotics.
The caterpillar-bot’s movement is driven by a novel pattern of silver nanowires that use heat to control the robot's bending, allowing users to steer its movements in either direction.
“A caterpillar’s movement is controlled by local curvature of its body – its body curves differently when it pulls itself forward than it does when it pushes itself backward,” said Yong Zhu, a leader of the research.
The team drew inspiration from the caterpillar’s biomechanics. The robot uses its nanowire heaters to control a curvature similar to that of the animals, which allows it to copy the way it moves.
The robot is made of two layers of polymer, which respond differently when exposed to heat: the bottom layer shrinks, or contracts, while the top one expands. The polymer layer also has a pattern of silver nanowires embedded in it...