Design and Performance Analysis of an Electromagnetically Driven Spherical Mobile Soft Robot

To address the issues of poor mobility and limited application scenarios in existing mobile soft robots, this paper presents the design of an electromagnetically driven spherical soft mobile robot based on an electromagnetically driven mechanism. The robot consists of two hemispherical shells, support leg, electromagnetic coils, and cylindrical magnet. The robot’s overall movement is achieved through the interaction between the electromagnetic coils and the cylindrical magnet. Experiments were conducted to analyze the effects of the robot’s inclination angle, drive voltage, and drive voltage switching frequency on its motion performance and to investigate the feasibility of the electromagnetically driven spherical soft robot in various application scenarios. The results indicate that a single electromagnetically driven spherical soft robot can achieve a maximum speed of 100 mm/s while also possessing the ability to climb slopes of a certain angle and move underwater; when two electromagnetically driven spherical soft mobile robots are combined, the robot can move in any direction.