Snake-inspired robot slithers even better than predecessor

SEAS researchers have developed a new and improved snake-inspired soft robot that is faster and more precise than its predecessor. The robot is made using kirigami — a Japanese paper craft that relies on cuts to change the properties of a material. As the robot stretches, the kirigami surface “pops up” into a 3D-textured surface, which grips the ground just like snake skin. The new research combined two properties of the material — the size of the cuts and the curvature of the sheet. By controlling these f