The body of the robot is composed of a flexible polyurethane strip which has an array of Nitinol™ wires affixed on each side. The wire arrays are staggered along the body axis so that the most anterior and posterior wires do not overlap. This allows the body to flex at any point and for flexion waves to propagate. The rod and Nitinol™ array are encased in a molded rubber form. During preliminary testing we have determined that the cooling by a surrounding water or oil bath is adequate to permit rapid wire relaxation and undulations at up to 4 hz.