Six-legged terrestrial walking robot using spatial 2DOF Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite (IPMC) structures (Conference Presentation)

This paper presents the design, fabrication, and testing of a novel 6 legged terrestrial walking robot inspired by the movements of an ant, while the ionic polymer-metal composite(IPMC) is used as the leg actuators. This terrestrial walking robot (size: 34 mm × 20mm ×28 mm, weight: 2.43g) is able to move in open air independently. The legs of the robot are made of a spatial two-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) IPMC actuator structure which shows great characteristics in movement and load-carrying capability. The different dimension of the IPMC actuator and the parameters of the leg structure are tested and optimized to cater the demand of different part of the leg structures. The robot is controlled by a microprocessor, an on-board lithium battery is used as the power and the square wave signal is employed to drive the 6 independent leg structures.