In this article, we use the concept of auxetic structures as inspiration for the design of a compliant mechanism that allows the integration of a soft robot whose movement is based on the peristaltic movements of invertebrates. The TPU mechanism allows for smooth movement of the robot using only two servo motors. To guarantee maximum displacement, a time and angle optimization procedure using photogrammetry and random search was carried out, allowing the advance distance of the soft robot to be maximized.

In this paper, a modification of the classical PID controller scheme for position control is presented. The resulting controller incorporates an exponential trajectory that smoothly guides the system towards the setpoint and a hybrid mechanism to dynamically reset the exponential signal, allowing an adaptive response to discontinuous reference signals. This combination leverages the benefits of exponential trajectories to reduce overshoot and transient oscillations, while the hybrid system ensures robust performance over a wide range of operating scenarios. Among the advantages of the proposed approach, two stand out: (1) significant improvements in energy savings can be achieved in some cases, and (2) closed-loop system performance can be improved even considering poorly tuned PIDs.