TORIN: Bioinspired Tubular Soft Robot
Feb 10, 2022
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TORIN is a toroidal, soft-bodied robot inspired by the strange but efficient locomotion of amoebas. Using whole-body eversion: a process where the robot turns itself inside out to move forward—it squeezes through gaps half its own diameter and slinks across terrain at up to 15 cm/s. With a pneumatically actuated soft shell and a flexible tubular core, TORIN is designed for environments where rigid robots would get stuck.
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Preface
I was watching an amoeba video at 2AM when it hit me: “Why don’t more robots turn themselves inside out?” That’s how TORIN began. Not in a lab, but in a YouTube rabbit hole and a late-night sketchbook filled with cursed anatomy diagrams and increasingly illegal-looking tubing layouts. This was my first real solo deep-dive into biomimicry and soft robotics. No metal limbs, no clean edges—just pressure, stretch, and motion that feels more biological than mechanical. TORIN is weird. But in environments where most robots get stuck, weird works.