A Novel Star-Nose-Inspired Biomimetic Soft Robot for Non-Visual Spatial Exploration

Drawing inspiration from the efficient information collection capability of the star-nosed mole, this paper proposes a spatial exploration biomimetic soft robot equipped with a polydimethylsiloxane-polyethylene terephthalate cylindrical tactile sensor based on bilayer single-electrode triboelectric nanogenerators. According to the biological structure of the star-nosed mole, a pneumatic driving platform was designed, and a constant curvature model for robot motion control was established to provide position information for the contact point between the sensor and the external environment. Complemented by a cylindrical tactile sensor array, the system has completed several different spatial exploration tasks, offering a novel solution for future environmental detection endeavors.