Effects of compliant and flexible trunks on peak-power of a lizard-inspired robot
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Abstract:
Many physical biological properties can be used to improve bio-inspired robot design. However, the effects of trunks' flexibility on improving the performance of legged robots have not been fully investigated. In this study, we aim to investigate the effects of compliant and flexible trunks on the peak-power of a lizard-inspired crawling robot. We first developed a bio-inspired lizard model to guide the design of a crawling robot with a flexible and compliant trunk. This robot is able to mimic the basic crawling gait pattern of lizards. Simulations and experiments were then performed to assess the motor power under various conditions. We found that the lizard-inspired crawling robot with a compliant and flexible trunk exhibited significantly reduced peak-power. More interestingly, we found that the stiffness of the trunk and the motion frequency are two key variables affecting the reduction rate of the peak-power.Keywords:
Crawling
Robot locomotion
Biomimetics
An important problem in the control of locomotion of robots with multiple degrees of freedom (e.g., biomimetic robots) is to adapt the locomotor patterns to the properties of the environment. This article addresses this problem for the locomotion of an amphibious snake robot, and aims at identifying fast swimming and crawling gaits for a variety of environments. Our approach uses a locomotion controller based on the biological concept of central pattern generators (CPGs) together with a gradient-free optimization method, Powell's method. A key aspect of our approach is that the gaits are optimized online, i.e., while moving, rather than as an off-line optimization process. We present various experiments with the real robot and in simulation: swimming, crawling on horizontal ground, and crawling on slopes. For each of these different situations, the optimized gaits are compared with the results of systematic explorations of the parameter space. The main outcomes of the experiments are: 1) optimal gaits are significantly different from one medium to the other; 2) the optimums are usually peaked, i.e., speed rapidly becomes suboptimal when the parameters are moved away from the optimal values; 3) our approach finds optimal gaits in much fewer iterations than the systematic search; and 4) the CPG has no problem dealing with the abrupt parameter changes during the optimization process. The relevance for robotic locomotion control is discussed.
Crawling
Robot locomotion
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Many researchers have developed some soft robots which mimic the mollusks movements having power ability to interact with their environments, but these soft robots usually have only one locomotion mode, which cannot effectively take into account the movement efficiency and the environment adaptability simultaneously. This paper presents the design of a novel soft robot which has three locomotion modes; namely, rolling, Omega crawling and vermiculation. It can effectively give consideration to the high efficiency for the rolling, the strong obstacle climbing capability for the Omega crawling and the capacity passing through a narrow space for the vermiculation. By controlling the body deformation and the connection mechanism of the head and the tail separation, we can realize the three locomotion modes and their switching. Firstly, we present the principle of three locomotion modes and how to switch them, and then the detailed structure design of the soft robot is delivered. Secondly, the initial simulation and experiment for the rolling locomotion are fulfilled to verify the feasibility of the soft robot, as the rolling locomotion is most difficult to realize in three locomotion modes.
Crawling
Robot locomotion
Adaptability
Climbing
Mode (computer interface)
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In this work, we design a type of soft robots for flipping locomotion, called the FifoBots. Different from most of the current soft robots that perform crawling, rolling, or jumping locomotion, the proposed FifoBots can flip forward and backward like a piece of self-foldable paper. The FifoBots have simple actuation and avoid complicated balance control. This article presents the principle and analysis of the flipping locomotion as well as the prototypes and experiments of the FifoBots. Two schemes of the flipping locomotion are proposed, and each scheme has the linear and quadrilateral morphologies, enabling the straight and biaxial movements, respectively. The movement performance in each stage of the flipping locomotion is analyzed oriented to the parameter design. The prototypes are constructed by using customized bidirectional Curl pneumatic artificial muscles as the flexible hinges and 3D printed parts as the rigid limbs. Feasibility and adaptability of the proposed robots are validated by locomotion experiments. The FifoBots have potential applications in space exploration in complicated environments with slope, gap, obstacle, or rocky terrain.
Crawling
Robot locomotion
Adaptability
Soft Robotics
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Towards achieving stable locomotion on slippery ground, a novel crawling-like robot has been proposed in our previous research. In this paper, we modify the original model to improve the performance and further extend it to feeding manipulation system．First, we derive the system dynamics and control method．Second, typical sliding locomotion is generated via numerical simulation．Third, we introduce the feeding manipulation system，and numerically show the feeding process．
Crawling
Robot locomotion
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Crawling
Robot locomotion
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At present, there are various kinds of locomotion mechanisms of robots such as bipedal locomotion, locomotion on wheels, and meandering. All of these mechanisms need a lot of space. But the locomotion mechanism which needs only a slight amount of space is the peristaltic crawling of earthworms. Moreover, this is more stable than any other locomotion mechanisms. Therefore, we pay attention to the peristaltic crawling of earthworms, which will replace the mechanisms of locomotion on wheels or on foot, aiming to develop an earthworm type robot mobile on unleveled ground, narrow roads, in a heap of rubble, or inside the tubes of nuclear power plants. This paper reports on the characters of pneumatic artificial muscle actuator suggested by us, the design of an experimental peristaltic crawling type robot using the actuators, and their evaluation results.
Crawling
Peristalsis
Robot locomotion
Peristaltic pump
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To face the challenge of adapting to complex terrains and environments, we develop a novel wheel-legged robot that can switch motion modes to adapt to different environments. The robot can perform efficient and stable upright balanced locomotion on flat roads and flexible crawling in low and narrow passages. For passing through low and narrow passages, we propose a crawling motion control strategy and methods for transitioning between locomotion modes of wheel-legged robots. In practical applications, the smooth transition between the two motion modes is challenging. By optimizing the gravity work of the body, the optimal trajectory of the center of mass (CoM) for the transition from standing to crawling is obtained. By constructing and solving an optimization problem regarding the posture and motion trajectories of the underactuated model, the robot achieves a smooth transition from crawling to standing. In experiments, the wheel-legged robot successfully transitioned between the crawling mode and the upright balanced moving mode and flexibly passed a low and narrow passage. Consequently, the effectiveness of the control strategies and algorithms proposed in this paper are verified by experiments.
Crawling
Legged robot
Robot locomotion
Underactuation
Center of gravity
Mode (computer interface)
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Nonskeletal animals such as worms achieve locomotion via crawling. We consider them as an inspiration to design robots that help underline the mechanisms of crawling. In this paper, we aim to identify an approach with the simplest structure and actuators. Our robots consist of cut-and-fold bodies equipped with pneumatically-driven soft actuators. We have developed fabrication techniques for coin-sized robots. Experiments showed that our robots can move up to 4.5 mm/s with straight motion (i.e., 0.1 body lengths per second) and perform cornering and U-turns. We have also studied the friction characteristics of our robots with the ground to develop a multistate model with stick–slip contact conversions. Our theoretical analyses depict comparable results to experiments demonstrating that simple and straightforward techniques can illustrate the crawling mechanism. Considering the minimal robots’ structure, this result is a critical step towards developing miniature crawling robots successfully.
Crawling
Robot locomotion
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Usually, robot is designed by using only one locomotion mechanism, such as walking, hopping, and jumping. The reason, among others, are simplicity, saving energy, and focus on single task and mission. This paper deal with design and implementation of multimodal flying and crawling robot by using adaptive morphology. The aim of this development is to provide robot platform that could achieve multiple locomotion mechanism in order to perform flexible and challenging mission. This kind robot is required in the field like collapse building due to earthquake that cluttered, unstructured and unstable.
Crawling
Robot locomotion
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Many researchers have developed some soft robots which mimic the mollusks movements having power ability to interact with their environments, but these soft robots usually have only one locomotion mode, which cannot effectively take into account the movement efficiency and the environment adaptability simultaneously. This paper presents the design of a novel soft robot which has three locomotion modes; namely, rolling, Omega crawling and vermiculation. It can effectively give consideration to the high efficiency for the rolling, the strong obstacle climbing capability for the Omega crawling and the capacity passing through a narrow space for the vermiculation. By controlling the body deformation and the connection mechanism of the head and the tail separation, we can realize the three locomotion modes and their switching. Firstly, we present the principle of three locomotion modes and how to switch them, and then the detailed structure design of the soft robot is delivered. Secondly, the initial simulation and experiment for the rolling locomotion are fulfilled to verify the feasibility of the soft robot, as the rolling locomotion is most difficult to realize in three locomotion modes.
Crawling
Robot locomotion
Adaptability
Climbing
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