A Multi-Gait Soft Robot Supporting Information

Soft Robot Fabrication. Masters for the pneu-nets were fabricated in ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) using a 3D printer (Dimension 3D; Stratasys, Inc.) We molded pneu-nets into a highly extensible, elastomeric material (Ecoflex 00-30 ©; Smooth-On, Inc.) and then layered them onto a relatively inextensible, compliant sheet (PDMS; Sylgard 184, Dow-Corning) (Fig. 1). We then inserted five soft, flexible tubes (1mm I.D., silicone rubber) into a “hub ” located at the posterior section of the soft robot; this hub fed the five separate pneu-nets (the tubing was held in place by compression from the surrounding, punctured Ecoflex © silicone rubber). We also fabricated a robot capable of faster crawling locomotion using an extensible elastomer (Ecoflex 00-50 ©; Smooth-On, Inc.) with a larger Young’s Modulus than Ecoflex 00-30 ©. The physical dimensions of the robot, as well as the dimensions of the pneu-nets are shown in Fig. S1. Both the Ecoflex elastomers, as well as the Sylgard 184 were cured at 75 o C for 60 minutes prior to use. We “glued ” the cured Ecoflex layer to the cured Sylgard 184 layer by using a thin, uncure