Caterpillars do not process skeleton inside its body; instead, they utilize the environment, e.g., branches, to maintain the posture against gravity. This strategy is also beneficial for soft-bodied robotic artifacts, which allows us to simplify the body and control design. This paper presents a soft-bodied crawling robot able to locomote in an upside-down condition. The critical finding is producing tension in the soft body is necessary for the soft robot to realize environmental skeleton and robust locomotion, which is demonstrated with numerical experiments and the prototype, even when the weight is added. The design way can be useful for the other soft-bodied robots that have difficulties supporting the weight and maintain the posture under gravity, e.g., when climbing upside-down condition. The results shed new light on how to design a mechanical and control system for soft-bodied robots, e.g., electric wire/cable maintenance robot, a tree-climbing robot, and a viaduct moni...

中文翻译：

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毛毛虫启发的软机器人，利用环境骨架进行颠倒运动

毛毛虫不会在其体内处理骨骼。取而代之的是，他们利用环境（例如分支）来保持姿势抗重力。这种策略对于身体柔和的机器人工件也很有用，这使我们能够简化车身和控制设计。本文提出了一种能够在颠倒状态下移动的轻巧爬行机器人。关键的发现是，即使在增加重量的情况下，通过数值实验和原型也可以证明，在软体体内产生张力是软体机器人实现环境骨架和鲁棒运动所必需的。对于其他难以支撑重量和在重力下仍无法保持姿势的软身机器人（例如在颠倒状态下攀爬），该设计方法可能很有用。