  In this paper, a reinforced soft robot prototype with a custom-designed
actuator-space string encoder are created to investigate dynamic soft robotic
trajectory tracking. The soft robot prototype embedded with the proposed
adaptive passivity control and efficient dynamic model make the challenging
trajectory tracking tasks possible. We focus on the exploration of tracking
accuracy as well as the full potential of the proposed control strategy by
performing experimental validations at different operation scenarios: various
tracking speed and external disturbance. In all experimental scenarios, the
proposed adaptive passivity control outperforms the conventional PD feedback
linearization control. The experimental analysis details the advantage and
shortcoming of the proposed approach, and points out the next steps for future
soft robot dynamic control.
