Crawling on waves with a soft foot

Snails crawl by generating a sequence of pedal waves via ventral muscle contractions, known as waves, and relaxations termed inter-waves. These actions transfer propulsive forces from a single foot to the ground through a thin layer of mucus secreted by the snail. Inspired by the adhesive locomotion of snails, we have developed a bioinspired soft robot equipped with a single-soft foot. This foot features a network of embedded pneumatic chambers generating various traveling wave patterns, two lateral bending actuators for steering, and distributed fluidic channels for selective artificial mucus deposition. A powerhouse comprised of a compact wireless controller, a pressure sensor, a pump, electro valves, and mucus storage housed in a shell mounted on the soft foot, creating an untethered robot control for robophysical analysis. Here, we show two experimental pathways in analyzing the physics behind snail