University of Southern Denmark recently demonstrated a soft robot capable of navigating complex terrains using a combination of inflatable actuators and a patterned "kirigami" skin, all moving via rectilinear motion.

You probably think it looks like a worm and it can certainly go places only small things could go.

It's not very fast, only 11 millimeters per second, but it can twist, turn, and navigate through tight spots thanks to its anisotropic anchoring and flexible skin.


Credit: SDU Soft Robotics

The secret to its utility is their array of opposing, inflatable, soft actuators that are covered with a flexible kirigami skin having asymmetrical frictional properties. To keep it moving even in challenging environments, they tested the robot in an arena with coarse substrates and multiple obstacles using real-time feedback from onboard proximity sensors, integrated with a human-machine interface, Adaptive control made it able to avoid collisions. 



They believe in the potential of bioinspired soft robots for various applications.

Citation: Tirado J., Parvaresh A., Seyidoğlu B., Bedford D.A., Jørgensen J.&Rafsanjani A. (2025) Multimodal Limbless Crawling Soft Robot with a Kirigami Skin, Cyborg and Bionic Systems, DOI: 10.34133/cbsystems.0301