SPROUT: The Open-Source Soft Growing Robot for Search and Rescue

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Article Summary

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/.

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