Electroadhesive feet for turning control in legged robots

Turning in small legged robots often requires extra actuators and mechanisms which consume energy and increase weight. Controllable friction on the feet of underactuated legged robots can provide extra degrees of freedom for dynamic turning. Here, we present preliminary results demonstrating that low voltage (<200 V) electroadhesives can be adapted onto a small off-the-shelf legged robot's feet for dynamic turning. It was shown that by changing the voltage, friction can be modulated to obtain different turning radii. A turning radius of 4 cm (half the robot's body width) was achieved by applying 120 V. However, it was also shown that the current electroadhesive designs are susceptible to scratches and wrinkles that reduce their performance after multiple runs.