The increasing demand for inspection, upkeep, and repair of pipeline and tunnel infrastructures has catalyzed research into the creation of robots with superior flexibility, adaptability, and load-bearing capacities. This study introduces an autonomous soft robot designed for navigating both straight and curved pipelines of 90 mm diameter. The soft robot is enabled by an elongation pneumatic actuator (EPA) as its body and multiple radial expansion pneumatic actuators (REPAs) as its feet to provide adhesion and support on the pipe walls. It achieves a horizontal movement speed of 1.27 mm/s and ascends vertically at 0.39 mm/s. An integrated control mechanism, merging both pneumatic and electrical systems is employed to facilitate unrestrained movement. A novel control tactic has been formulated to ensure synchronized coordination between the robot's body deformation and leg anchoring, ensuring stable movement. This soft robot demonstrates remarkable mobility metrics, boasting an anchoring strength of over 100 N, a propelling force of 43.8 N when moving vertically, and a pulling strength of 31.4 N during navigation in curved pipelines. It can carry a camera to capture the internal view of the pipe and remove obstacles autonomously. The unconstrained and autonomous movement of the untethered soft robot presents new opportunities for various applications at different scales.

中文翻译：

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受蠕虫启发的、不受束缚的软爬行机器人，用于管道检查。


对管道和隧道基础设施的检查、维护和修理的需求不断增长，促进了对具有卓越灵活性、适应性和承载能力的机器人的研究。本研究介绍了一种自主软机器人，设计用于导航直径 90 毫米的直线和弯曲管道。该软体机器人由一个伸长气动执行器（EPA）作为其身体，多个径向膨胀气动执行器（REPA）作为其脚，在管壁上提供粘附和支撑。它的水平移动速度为1.27毫米/秒，垂直上升速度为0.39毫米/秒。采用将气动和电气系统结合在一起的集成控制机制，以促进无限制的运动。制定了一种新颖的控制策略，确保机器人的身体变形和腿部锚定之间的同步协调，确保稳定的运动。这款软体机器人展示了卓越的移动性指标，锚定强度超过 100 N，垂直移动时的推进力为 43.8 N，在弯曲管道中导航时的拉力为 31.4 N。它可以携带摄像头捕捉管道内部视图并自主清除障碍物。无束缚软机器人的无约束和自主运动为不同规模的各种应用提供了新的机会。