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Active control of the shape of soft robots is challenging. Despite having aninfinite number of passive degrees of freedom (DOFs), soft robots typicallyonly have a few actively controllable DOFs, limited by the number of degrees ofactuation (DOAs). The complexity of actuators restricts the number of DOAs thatcan be incorporated into soft robots. Active shape control is furthercomplicated by the buckling of soft robots under compressive forces; this isparticularly challenging for compliant continuum robots due to their longaspect ratios. In this work, we show how variable stiffness can enable shapecontrol of soft robots by addressing these challenges. Dynamically changing thestiffness of sections along a compliant continuum robot can selectively"activate" discrete joints. By changing which joints are activated, the outputof a single actuator can be reconfigured to actively control many differentjoints, thus decoupling the number of controllable DOFs from the number ofDOAs. We demonstrate embedded positive pressure layer jamming as a simplemethod for stiffness change in inflated beam robots, its compatibility withgrowing robots, and its use as an "activating" technology. We experimentallycharacterize the stiffness change in a growing inflated beam robot and presentfinite element models which serve as guides for robot design and fabrication.We fabricate a multi-segment everting inflated beam robot and demonstrate howstiffness change is compatible with growth through tip eversion, enables anincrease in workspace, and achieves new actuation patterns not possible withoutstiffening.

Stiffness Change for Reconfiguration of Inflated Beam Robots