We present an open-source untethered quadrupedal soft robot platform for dynamic locomotion (e.g., high-speed running and backflipping). The robot is mostly soft (80 vol.%) while driven by four geared servo motors. The robot's soft body and soft legs were 3D printed with gyroid infill using a flexible material, enabling it to conform to the environment and passively stabilize during locomotion on multi-terrain environments. In addition, we simulated the robot in a real-time soft body simulation. With tuned gaits in simulation, the real robot can locomote at a speed of 0.9 m/s (2.5 body length/second), substantially faster than most untethered legged soft robots published to date. We hope this platform, along with its verified simulator, can catalyze the development of soft robotics.
@article{arxiv.2011.06749,
title = {A Legged Soft Robot Platform for Dynamic Locomotion},
author = {Boxi Xia and Jiaming Fu and Hongbo Zhu and Zhicheng Song and Yibo Jiang and Hod Lipson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2011.06749},
year = {2025}
}