Soft robot system builds itself with open designs for rescue and inspection
SPROUT: The Open-Source Soft Growing Robot for Search and Rescue
Robotics
Summary
Getting soft robots out of labs and into real rescue missions has been hard because they need to work in tough conditions like dust and water. The authors created SPROUT, a soft robot with open designs anyone can use to build their own. It is modular and can be adapted with different tools for inspections or archaeology. They tested SPROUT in practice at training sites that simulate collapsed buildings, showing it can do tricky tasks. All the materials like code and instructions are freely shared to help others develop the robot further.
What this means in practice
- •For urban search and rescue teams: Use the SPROUT robot to explore collapsed structures in difficult environments where traditional robots struggle.
- •For infrastructure inspection crews: Deploy SPROUT for inspecting hard-to-access or hazardous infrastructure areas with customized sensor payloads.
Authors
Antonio Alvarez Valdivia, Ciera McFarland, Robert Reeve, Ankush Dhawan, Chad Council, Megan Richardson, Margaret McGuinness, Nathaniel Hanson
Abstract
Soft robotic systems have long been theorized as ideal candidates for use in search and rescue operations; however, there have been significant barriers to entry in graduating soft robotic systems from the laboratory to the field. To address this gap in replicable, reliable soft robot systems, we present the designs for SPROUT, the Soft Pathfinding Robotic Observation Unit. The system has matured over years of interaction with professional urban search and rescue communities, with the goal of operating in dusty, wet, and isolated conditions. This manuscript contains supplementary material, including code, parts manifests, CAD assemblies, and build instructions to allow the broader robotics research community to build their own SPROUT systems. The modular hardware and ROS 2-based software stack support task-specific payloads and control functions, allowing SPROUT to be adapted for applications beyond search and rescue, including infrastructure inspection and archaeology. Here, we demonstrate SPROUT performing a variety of challenging inspection and traversal tasks in collapsed structure training sites used by first responders. The main project page is available online at https://sprout-mitll.github.io/sprout/.