AUTHOR=Schiller Lars , Seibel Arthur , Schlattmann Josef TITLE=Toward a Gecko-Inspired, Climbing Soft Robot JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurorobotics VOLUME=13 YEAR=2019 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurorobotics/articles/10.3389/fnbot.2019.00106 DOI=10.3389/fnbot.2019.00106 ISSN=1662-5218 ABSTRACT=

In this paper, we present a gecko-inspired soft robot that is able to climb inclined, flat surfaces. By changing the design of the previous version, the energy consumption of the robot could be reduced, and at the same time, its ability to climb and its speed of movement could be increased. As a result, the new prototype consumes only about a third of the energy of the previous version and manages to climb slopes of up to 84°. In the horizontal plane, its velocity could be increased from 2 to 6 cm/s. We also provide a detailed analysis of the robot's straight gait.