Locomotion diversity in an underwater soft-robot inspired by the polyclad flatworm

The underwater soft-robot inspired by polyclad flatworms has been developed. The oval, flat, soft body of the flatworm was represented by a rubber sheet. The sheet was controlled by controls with three degrees of freedom to allow flapping of both the lateral sides and the body axis. Swimming patterns, such as swimming forward, hovering, and swimming backwards, were achieved by coordinated movement of the lateral side flaps and the body axis of the soft robot.