Design and Implementation of a Shape Shifting Rolling–Crawling–Wall-Climbing Robot

Abstract

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.

Research on motion characteristics of space truss-crawling robot

“…By comparing equations (3) and (4) with equations (5) and (6), we see that when the robot crawls on these two infrastructures with triangular gait and creeping gait, the average crawling speed on the large-scale truss structure is slightly faster than that on the large-section truss rod when employing the same pace, step frequency, and crawling gait. Additionally, by comparing equations (7) and (8) with equations (9) and (10), we can see that, in the same situation, when the robot crawls on the large-scale truss structure, the adhesive force fluctuation interval of the leg is slightly smaller than when the robot crawls on the large-section truss rod. Therefore, it can be determined that the adaptability of the robot to the large-scale truss structure is better than to the large-section truss rod.…”

Optimization Design and Flexible Detection Method of Wall-Climbing Robot System with Multiple Sensors Integration for Magnetic Particle Testing

“…Dai et al [15] and Yin et al [16] successively carried out research on pipeline weld defect detection technology and developed robots for pipeline non-destructive testing, whose work efficiency can be improved in the following research. Several compound mobile mechanisms have been innovatively designed to improve the wall adaptability of a wall-climbing robot, but the conflict between movement flexibility and safe adsorption has not been well resolved [17][18][19]. Several researchers carried detection sensors and cleaning equipment on a wall-climbing robot and developed a series of ship detection and cleaning robots [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27].…”

The Dynamic Coupling Analysis for All-Wheel-Drive Climbing Robot Based on Safety Recovery Mechanism Model

“…A grasping module of cross-arranged claw is designed for the inspection of rough stone and concrete wall surfaces, which performs well in grasping vibrating walls with certain anti-rollover capability [15]. Yanagida et al designed a shape shifting rolling-crawling-wall-climbing robot with wall-climbing locomotion abilities [16]. Xu et al designed a robot for cable inspection with double wheels on both sides [17,18].…”

“…µ denotes the friction coefficient between the rolling wheels and the cable surface.Therefore we can get: N a = N b + N c − Mg sin β. Combining Equations (13)-(16), the following constraint equation is obtained:…”