Origami-inspired New Material Feeding Mechanism for Soft Growing Robots to Keep the Camera Stay at the Tip by Securing its Path

Soft growing robots that extend through tip eversion have attracted considerable interest owing to their unique locomotion. Although the availability of visual feedback from the tip of such robots would greatly enhance their usefulness in field explorations, given that the material at the tip continually moves as the robot grows, mounting a camera at the tip of the robot and securing it in place during robot growth has been a major challenge. Previous designs have severely impeded these robots’ intrinsic advantages, and it remains challenging to ensure that the camera remains at the tip without encumbering the robots’ natural ability to morph its shape and grow along or over an obstacle. In this letter, for the first time, we propose a method to maintain the camera at the tip during robot growth, while retaining the compliant nature of the robot. An origami-inspired new material feeding mechanism is designed to secure the camera's path from the base to the tip, which allows us to control the camera's growing speed independently of the robot. We experimentally investigate the required control parameters and present a vision-based control method for camera position adjustment. Finally, we demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed design in simulated experimental scenarios, including a narrow passage and a cluttered environment