Supplementary material from "Gait control in a soft robot by sensing interactions with the environment using self-deformation"

With few exceptions, these sensors are embedded in soft tissues that deform in normal use such that sensory feedback results from the interaction of an animal with its environment. Useful information about the environment is expected to be embedded in the mechanical responses of the tissues during movements.

To explore how such sensory information can be used to control movements, we have developed a soft-bodied crawling robot inspired by a highly tractable animal model, the tobacco hornworm Manduca sexta . This robot uses deformations of its body to detect changes in friction force on the substrate. This information is used to provide local sensory feedback for coupled oscillators that control the robot's locomotion.