Vine robots extend their tubular bodies by everting material from the tip, enabling navigation in complex environments with a minimalist soft body. Despite their promise for field applications, especially in the urban search and rescue domain, performance is constrained by the weight of attached sensors or tools, as well as other design and control choices. This work investigates how tip load, pressure, length, diameter, and fabrication method shape vine robot steerability--the ability to maneuver with controlled curvature--for robots that steer with series pouch motor-style pneumatic actuators. We conduct two groups of experiments: (1) studying tip load, chamber pressure, length, and diameter in a robot supporting itself against gravity, and (2) studying fabrication method and ratio of actuator to chamber pressure in a robot supported on the ground. Results show that steerability decreases with increasing tip load, is best at moderate chamber pressure, increases with length, and is largely unaffected by diameter. Robots with actuators attached on their exterior begin curving at low pressure ratios, but curvature saturates at high pressure ratios; those with actuators integrated into the robot body require higher pressure ratios to begin curving but achieve higher curvature overall. We demonstrate that robots optimized with these principles outperform those with ad hoc parameters in a mobility task that involves maximizing upward and horizontal curvatures.

翻译：藤蔓机器人通过从尖端外翻材料来延伸其管状躯体，使其能够以极简的软体结构在复杂环境中导航。尽管这类机器人在野外应用（尤其是在城市搜救领域）前景广阔，但其性能受到附加传感器或工具重量以及其他设计与控制选择的限制。本研究探讨了尖端负载、压力、长度、直径及制造方法如何影响藤蔓机器人的可操控性——即通过受控曲率进行机动的能力——研究对象为采用串联囊袋式气动执行器进行转向的机器人。我们进行了两组实验：(1) 研究在机器人抵抗重力自支撑状态下，尖端负载、腔室压力、长度和直径的影响；(2) 研究在机器人地面支撑状态下，制造方法以及执行器与腔室压力比的影响。结果表明：可操控性随尖端负载增加而降低，在中等腔室压力下最佳，随长度增加而提升，且基本不受直径影响。执行器附着于外部的机器人在低压比下即开始弯曲，但在高压比下曲率趋于饱和；而执行器集成于机器人本体的机器人需要更高压力比才能开始弯曲，但总体上能达到更高的曲率。我们通过一项涉及最大化向上和水平曲率的移动任务证明，基于这些原理优化的机器人性能优于采用临时参数的机器人。