Mechanism Design of a Transformable Crawling Robot and Feasibility Analysis for the Unstructured Environment

Abstract

The better application of crawl robots depends on their ability to adapt to unstructured environments with significant variations in their structural shape and size. This paper presents the design and analysis of a novel robot with different locomotion configurations to move through varying environments. The leg of the robot, inspired by insects, was designed as a multi-link structure, including the Hoekens linkage and multiple parallel four-link mechanisms. The end trajectory was a symmetrical closed curve composed of an approximate straight line and a shell curve with a downward opening. The special trajectory allowed the robot to share drives and components to achieve structural deformation and locomotion. The structural characteristics of the crawl robot on the inner and outer arcs were obtained based on the working space. The constraint relationship between the structure size, the radius of the arc, and the coefficient of static friction with which the robot could crawl on the arc were established. The feasible support posture and support position of the robot under different arc radii were obtained. The simulation tested the locomotion of the robot on the plane, arc, and restricted space. The robot can be used for detection, search, and rescue missions in unstructured environments.

Design and analysis of a multi-configuration wheel-leg hybrid drive robot machine

“…The design of a Hoekens mechanism combined with a parallelogram mechanism applied to a robot leg was proposed recently. 21 Inspired by this, the Hoekens mechanism is combined with the wheel drive, and the end trajectory of the Hoekens mechanism is a shell-shaped closed curve of a straight line and a circular arc, as shown in Figure 4(a) and using this special trajectory to realize the combination of the linkage leg drive and the wheel drive is the next focus of our research.…”

Design and implementation of origami robot ROS-based SLAM and autonomous navigation

“…Therefore, there are currently few successful cases of rescue robots performing rescue tasks. Mobile robots are mainly divided into wheeled, legged, tracked, and hybrid types [ 1 , 2 ]. Compared with wheeled robots, legged-wheeled robots have better passability, and compared with legged robots, they have higher stability, combining all the advantages of wheeled and legged robots [ 3 ].…”

Design and Simulation of a Seven-Degree-of-Freedom Hydraulic Robot Arm

“…Robots are increasingly being used for rescue operations to improve work flexibility and expand the range of operations. Over the past decades, different types of rescue robots have been developed, such as snake-shaped search and rescue robots [1][2][3], bionic crawling search and rescue robots [4,5], wheel-footed robots with enhanced obstacle-crossing capabilities [6][7][8], aircraft-based rescue robots [9,10], rope-assisted climbing robots for applications in mountainous environments [11], and deformable robots for water rescue [12]. However, few of these robots have significant excavation and handling capabilities.…”