Design and sensing of a flexible robot leg

Abstract

This paper reports on the work completed towards the design and sensing of a flexible robotic leg with applications to search and rescue and home robotics. Taking inspiration from the tentacles of cephalopods, we have designed and constructed a segmented leg that is driven by a single motor. The overall deformation of the segmented leg is achieved via tendons. Such a design enables the leg to be modular and mountable in any robotic platform that is driven by wheels or tracks. The deformation of the leg is measured in real-time using a fiber optic sensor that can be used for control purposes. We present experimental results for deformation sensing.