Robot having soft arms for locomotion and grip purposes

A soft-arm robot comprising:

• a support body;
• a plurality of soft arms fixed to one side of said support body and extending from said one side of said support body, each arm of said plurality of soft arms being elongated along a central axis and having an outer periphery;
• a first arm actuating means comprising, for each arm of said plurality of soft arms;
• at least one substantially inextensible first cable extending substantially parallel with said central axis, eccentrically displaced from the same central axis towards said outer periphery, and
• a first drive means for exerting a traction and release force on said at least one substantially inextensible first cable, whereby in response to said traction and release force by said first arm actuating means, an arm of said plurality of soft arms is configured to bend itself in a substantially coil-like configuration or to resume a substantially straight arrangement;
• a second arm actuating means comprising, for each arm of said plurality of soft arms;
• a substantially inextensible second cable extending coaxially with said central axis, and
• a second drive means for exerting a traction and release force on said substantially inextensible second cable, whereby in response to said traction and release force by said second arm actuating means, an arm of said plurality of soft arms is configured to become shorter or longer;
• and
• control means for selectively controlling said first and second arm actuating means, whereby the plurality of soft arms are adapted to grip an entity by bending around said entity, and/or to make the robot locomote by synchronized lengthening and shortening of said plurality of soft arms.