Serpentine Synergy: Design and Fabrication of a Dual Soft Continuum Manipulator and Soft Snake Robot

TL;DR

This paper introduces a versatile soft continuum robot that can function both as a manipulator and a snake robot, designed for search and rescue operations in disaster scenarios, through innovative use of soft materials and modular design.

Contribution

It presents a novel dual-purpose soft continuum robot with integrated design, fabrication, and experimental validation for use in emergency search operations.

Findings

Successful design and fabrication of the dual soft continuum robot.

Experimental validation demonstrating functionality as both manipulator and snake robot.

Potential application in post-earthquake survivor search and rescue.

Abstract

This work presents a soft continuum robot (SCR) that can be used as a soft continuum manipulator (SCM) and a soft snake robot (SSR). This is achieved using expanded polyethylene foam (EPE) modules as the soft material. In situations like post-earthquake search operations, these dual-purpose robots could play a vital role. The soft continuum manipulator with a camera attached to the tip can manually search for survivors in the debris. On the other hand, the soft snake robot can be made by attaching an active wheel to the soft continuum manipulator. This mobile robot can reach places humans cannot and gather information about survivors. This work presents the design, fabrication, and experimental validation of the dual soft continuum robot.