The exploration of new lands has always been a source ofmotivation for mankind. Despite the common idea that ourplanet is fully known, a huge number of inaccessible placesstill remains unvisited today, especially below the surface.Recent advances in robotics allow some of these locationsto be explored by unmanned vehicles. This paper presentsthe design of a 3-modules lighter-than-air vehicle specifi-cally conceived to autonomously explore inaccessible cavesand underground environments. The design is inspired froman arthropod,scutigera coleoptrata, a long-legged centipedecommonly found in our houses. Instead of crawling on wallslike its biological counterpart, the robotic scutigera hoversand flies in cave tunnels. The aim is to develop a flexi-ble semi-rigid, segmented airship that can withstand long,smooth explorations of caves while transmitting in real-timethe images and sounds that it captures. This paper presentsthe equations of motion for a single module, and experimen-tal results to identify the physical properties of the Scutigeramodules. For simulation and control, we develop the modelof the multibody system, based on the kinematics of the mod-ules and the dynamics of the vehicle derived using Kane–sequations. Our approach can be extended for an n-bodiessystem. A 3-segment motion is illustrated with simplified sce-narios in the horizontal plane using head actuation only. Fi-nally, a structural design of the modules is presented andsupported with a proof-of-concept prototype.
The exploration of new lands has always been a source of motivation for mankind. Despite the common idea that our planet is fully known, a huge number of inaccessible places still remains unvisited today, especially below the surface. Recent advances in robotics allow some of these locations to be explored by unmanned vehicles. This paper presents the design of a 3-modules lighter-than-air vehicle specifically conceived to autonomously explore inaccessible caves and underground environments. The design is inspired from an arthropod, scutigera coleoptrata, a long-legged centipede commonly found in our houses. Instead of crawling on walls like its biological counterpart, the robotic scutigera hovers and flies in cave tunnels. The aim is to develop a flexible semi-rigid, segmented airship that can withstand long, smooth explorations of caves while transmitting in real-time the images and sounds that it captures. To develop the model of the system, the kinematics of the modules are obtained in the inertial frame, and the dynamic derivation of the vehicle is obtained using Kane’s equations, which can also be extended for an n-bodies system. Its motion is illustrated with a couple of simplified scenarios in the horizontal plane and only having actuation in the front, or first module, of the airship. A structural design of the modules is presented and supported with a proof-of-concept prototype.
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