Carpie: A soft, mechanically-reconfigurable worm robot

Soft robots are a burgeoning archetype in robotics due to their ability to perform intricate movements easily and seamlessly. They serve as an ideal concept for realistically emulating animal movements. However, the majority of soft robots today are unable to vary their motions due to the coupled interaction of the nature of their kinematics and structural composition. We therefore created Carpie, a robotic caterpillar adapted from a modular, pneumatic actuator. Carpie is designed to perform a variety of caterpillar movements by tuning its mechanical structure through physical reconfiguration. The robot has a completely soft body that enables a variety of movements and contortions into different shapes, making Carpie is perhaps the perfect example to showcase a soft robot's aptness for animal mimicry. We analyzed the robot's control aspect. Its capabilities were measured by performing gait velocity studies on three different configurations. Each configuration was executed by applying various modules on Carpie's structure without fully refabricating the entire assembly. We also analyzed the accompanying change in the robot's maximum height during gait. Finally, we demonstrate how physical reconfiguration was able to radically alter Carpie's movement, allowing it to perform a turning motion.