Sidewinder-Inspired Self-Adjusting, Lateral-Rolling Soft Robots for Autonomous Terrain Exploration

Helical structures of liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) hold promise in soft robotics for self-regulated rolling motions. The understanding of their motion paths and potentials for terrain exploration remains limited. This study introduces a self-adjusting, lateral-rolling soft robot inspired by sidewinder snakes. The spring-like LCE helical filaments (HFs) autonomously respond to thermal cues, demonstrating dynamic and sustainable locomotion with adaptive rolling along non-linear paths. By fine-tuning the diameter, pitch, and modulus of the LCE HFs, and the environmental temperature, the movements of the LCE HFs, allowing for exploration of diverse terrains over a 600 cm2 area within a few minutes, can be programmed. LCE HFs are showcased to navigate through over nine obstacles, including maze escaping, terrain exploration, target hunting, and successfully surmounting staircases through adaptable rolling. Inspired by sidewinder snakes, liquid crystal elastomer helical filaments (LCE HFs) are prepared, demonstrating temperature-activated self-adjusts their movements. It can dynamically roll in non-linear paths, responding to filament properties and environmental temperature. The robot showcases terrain adaptability, navigating through a 600 cm2 area with nine obstacles, including mazes, terrain exploration, target finding, and climbing stairs through self-rolling. image