Abstract: Technology is provided for controlling the motion of soft growing robots during retraction to prevent uncontrollable buckling or bending. A double walled flexible tubular robot is provided with an inside wall, an outside wall, and a folded tip. A retraction device located at the folded tip has a routing aperture sized to encompass the inside wall and for routing the inside wall through the retraction device. The retraction device further has a retraction mechanism inside the retraction device to controllably retract material of the inside wall through the routing aperture in the direction away from the folded tip, thereby decreasing the outside wall, creating more inside wall, and as such shortening the length of the flexible robot.