Abstract:Designing an urban reconnaissance robot is highly challenging work given the nature of the terrain in which these robots are required to operate. In this work, we attempt to extend the locomotion capabilities of these robots beyond what is currently feasible. The design and unique features of our bio-inspired reconfigurable robot, called Scorpio, with rolling, crawling, and wall-climbing locomotion abilities are presented in this paper. The design of the Scorpio platform is inspired by Cebrennus rechenbergi, a rare spider species that has rolling, crawling and wall-climbing locomotion attributes. This work also presents the kinematic and dynamic model of Scorpio. The mechanical design and system architecture are introduced in detail, followed by a detailed description on the locomotion modes. The conducted experiments validated the proposed approach and the ability of the Scorpio platform to synthesise crawling, rolling and wall-climbing behaviours. Future work is envisioned for using these robots as active, unattended, mobile ground sensors in urban reconnaissance missions. The accompanying video demonstrates the shape shifting locomotion capabilities of the Scorpio robot.

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In this paper, motion control of a snake-like robot for winding and moving on smooth surface is developed. To design the motion control, a mathematical model of the snake-like robot is derived by Projection method. The Projection method leads both the mathematical model and constraints working in the mathematical model. The constraints give important information for winding and moving on the surface. State-Dependent Riccati Equation (SDRE) control strategy taking the constraints into account realizes winding and moving on the surface for the snake-like robot. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through numerical simulations.