Enabling High-Curvature Navigation in Eversion Robots through Buckle-Inducing Constrictive Bands

TL;DR

This paper introduces a passive method using buckling-inducing bands to significantly enhance the high-curvature navigation capabilities of eversion robots without adding complexity or sacrificing softness.

Contribution

It proposes a novel passive approach with circumferential bands to reduce bending stiffness, enabling better navigation in tight, curved environments while maintaining the robot's compliance.

Findings

Bands reduce stiffness by up to 91%

Enables navigation through 180° bends with 25 mm radius

Demonstrated in a colon phantom case study

Abstract

Tip-growing eversion robots are renowned for their ability to access remote spaces through narrow passages. However, achieving reliable navigation remains a significant challenge. Existing solutions often rely on artificial muscles integrated into the robot body or active tip-steering mechanisms. While effective, these additions introduce structural complexity and compromise the defining advantages of eversion robots: their inherent softness and compliance. In this paper, we propose a passive approach to reduce bending stiffness by purposefully introducing buckling points along the robot's outer wall. We achieve this by integrating inextensible diameter-reducing circumferential bands at regular intervals along the robot body facilitating forward motion through tortuous, obstacle cluttered paths. Rather than relying on active steering, our approach leverages the robot's natural interaction with the environment, allowing for smooth, compliant navigation. We present a Cosserat rod-based mathematical model to quantify this behavior, capturing the local stiffness reductions caused by the constricting bands and their impact on global bending mechanics. Experimental results demonstrate that these bands reduce the robot's stiffness when bent at the tip by up to 91 percent, enabling consistent traversal of 180 degree bends with a bending radius of as low as 25 mm-notably lower than the 35 mm achievable by standard eversion robots under identical conditions. The feasibility of the proposed method is further demonstrated through a case study in a colon phantom. By significantly improving maneuverability without sacrificing softness or increasing mechanical complexity, this approach expands the applicability of eversion robots in highly curved pathways, whether in relation to pipe inspection or medical procedures such as colonoscopy.