Traveling Wave Enabled Snail Inspired Soft Robot

Snails achieve locomotion by propagating direct and retrograde traveling waves along their muscular foot, enabling controlled crawling across wet, dry, and inclined surfaces. Inspired by this principle, we present the Dual Actuator Wave-like Navigator (DAWN), an untethered crawling robot that uses two independently driven helical wave generators enclosed in soft elastomeric skins to produce continuous traveling waves along dual tracks generating direct locomotion. The elastomeric skin enhances ground friction, protects internal mechanisms and can be pneumatically inflated to adapt crawling on varying terrain. Through robophysical analysis, we quantify the skin's effect on wave transmission, static and kinectic friction, and locomotion on flat, inclined, and granular surfaces. Controlled tests show that DAWN achieves multi-terrain locomotion, with maximum speeds achieved on smooth and moderately rough surfaces, while cyclic pneumatic actuation significantly improved performance on granular terrain. Differential and pivot steering modes enable agile navigation demonstrating the capability of a tight turning radius. These results demonstrate how coupling wave-based propulsion with adaptive soft-skin interfaces enhances crawling performance and terrain adaptability, offering a robust platform for studying traveling-wave locomotion using our hybrid hard–soft robotic systems.