Narrative

The artwork illustrates a soft burrowing robot that can steer in curved shapes in dry sand using a combination of tip extension and tip-based airflow techniques. Tip extension eliminates skin drag, tip-based airflow reduces drag, and directional tip flow combined with an asymmetric tip shape controls lift. These features allow the robot to steer with ease in sandy terrains such as beaches and desert dunes. The artwork shows the robot emerging out of the sand using pressurized airflow. Here, the sand appears lighter in color and less granular due to fluidization. The design of the robot is partly inspired by the sandfish, which is depicted on the bottom left.