Landing recovery and orientation control of a locust-inspired miniature jumping robot

As numerous bioinspired miniature robots exhibit the ability to jump, only a few are capable of performing consecutive jumps. This is mostly due to the fact that the airborne phase of the jump is uncontrolled and therefore, the landing is basically free-fall. The problem becomes more severe as the jump height increases generating higher forces upon ground impact. The impact usually results in an uncontrolled and unpredictable post-impact motion which leaves the robot in a pose that is not ready for a second jump, and if by chance the pose is correct for performing a jump, it is usually not in the desired direction. While additional mechanisms that either control the airborne phase of the jump or reorient the robot after the landing exist, they usually involve adding components such as motors and batteries leading to a significantly more complex and cumbersome system. This work presents a mechanism that both brings a locust inspired jumping robot back to a jumping capable pose post-landing and reorients it towards the desired jumping direction autonomously, utilizing the same motor and battery used to perform the jump. Key to the design is the added propeller-shaped tail mechanism connected to the motor via unidirectional bearing, pushing on the ground on one side creating a moment to tip the robot sideways. This paper presents the flip-turn mechanism, experimentally demonstrates the ability of the mechanism to flip the robot back on its feet, and relates design (propeller length) and real-time (pushing pulse time) parameters to the turning angle. The results are used in a simple algorithm to obtain consecutive jumps in the desired direction.