Congratulations to Dr. Burcu Seyidoğlu for successfully defending her PhD thesis titled “Snake-Inspired Soft Robots for Rectilinear Locomotion” on Friday, June 13, 2025.
The defense took place in Ellehammer seminar room at University of Southern Denmark in Odense.
Evaluation Committee:
– Associate Prof. Jonas Jørgensen (Chair), SDU Biorobotics,The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute, University of Southern Denmark
– Dr. Barbara Mazzolai, Bioinspired Soft Robotics laboratory, Italian Institute of Technology
– Associate Prof. Matteo Cianchetti, Soft Mechatronics for Biorobotics, BioRobotics Institute, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies
Chairperson: Associate Prof. Parisa Niloofar, SDU Software Engineering, The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute, University of Southern Denmark
Supervisor: Prof. Ahmad Rafsanjani, SDU Biorobotics,The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Institute, University of Southern Denmark
Summary: Nature has long been a source of inspiration for robotics, particularly in locomotion. Traditional rigid robots often struggle to navigate complex environments, such as narrow pipes or uneven terrain, due to their inflexible structures. To overcome these limitations, researchers are turning to soft robotics, which utilizes flexible materials to enable large body deformations and adaptive movement.
This PhD research draws inspiration from snakes, specifically focusing on rectilinear locomotion. Rectilinear locomotion is a unique crawling mechanism in which a snake moves forward without bending its spine, relying instead on muscular contractions and friction control through belly scales. The goal of this work is to replicate this locomotion in soft robotic systems through coupling of body deformation, surface interactions, and friction modulation, and develop adaptive soft crawlers capable of navigating complex environments.
To achieve this, the research integrates principles from origami (paper folding) and kirigami (paper cutting) to design flexible structures that mimic biological skin and muscle. Novel materials and fabrication techniques are explored to embed actuation and sensing directly into the robot’s body. Furthermore, bioinspired neural controllers based on central pattern generators (CPGs) are employed to enable adaptive crawling and enhance autonomy. Expanding beyond rectilinear locomotion, this work also investigates more versatile and adaptive crawling strategies through various soft crawler designs.
The results demonstrate the successful development of soft snake robots capable of rectilinear locomotion across a range of surfaces, including inclined planes and uneven terrains. These findings contribute valuable insights into soft robotic locomotion, bridging biological inspiration with engineering innovation. This research paves the way for real-world applications requiring navigation through confined spaces, such as search-and-rescue missions and inspection tasks.
