Model-Based Design and Evaluation of a Brachiating Monkey Robot with an Active Waist

Abstract

Abstract:We report on the model-based development of a monkey robot that is capable of performing continuous brachiation locomotion on swingable rod, as the intermediate step toward studying brachiation on the soft rope or on horizontal ropes with both ends fixed. The work is different from other previous works where the model or the robot swings on fixed bars. The model, which is composed of two rigid links, was inspired by the dynamic motion of primates. The model further served as the design guideline for a robot that has five degree of freedoms: two on each arm for rod changing and one on the waist to initiate a swing motion. The model was quantitatively formulated, and its dynamic behavior was analyzed in simulation. Further, a two-stage controller was developed within the simulation environment, where the first stage used the natural dynamics of a two-link pendulum-like model, and the second stage used the angular velocity feedback to regulate the waist motion. Finally, the robot was empirically built and evaluated. The experimental results confirm that the robot can perform model-like swing behavior and continuous brachiation locomotion on rods.

Design of Transverse Brachiation Robot and Motion Control System for Locomotion between Ledges at Different Elevations

“…In this phase, the robot maintains the posture achieved in the previous phase while swinging the tail link repeatedly until the swing amplitude is sufficient to initiate brachiation. Note that a swing-up phase is commonly used in underactuated mechanical systems, such as brachiation robots [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ] or acrobots [ 28 , 29 , 30 ]. Among the numerous control methods proposed for robot swing motion control [ 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ], we adopted the energy-based method proposed by Spong [ 32 ] to generate the torque by which to drive the actuated link (tail), such that the direction of the torque vector is the same as the direction of the underactuated link (body and arms).…”

“…In the current study, we developed a robot that performs transverse overhand brachiation tasks in navigating routes that include multiple ledges at different elevations. The movements of existing transverse brachiation robots with an anterior orientation perpendicular to the direction of movement can be categorized as follows: (1) Grasped object orientation perpendicular to the direction of movement and parallel to the ground [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]; (2) Grasped object orientation perpendicular to the direction of movement and perpendicular to the ground [ 23 ]; (3) Grasped object orientation parallel to the direction of movement and parallel to the ground [ 1 , 13 , 24 , 25 , 26 ].…”

A Series-elastic Robot for Back-pain Rehabilitation

“…Upon studying gibbons, their upper body is found to be a five-bar linkage [60] with the ability to grab and release surfaces using their hands, as illustrated in Figure 16. To address this problem, we employ a two-bar linkage mechanism that will reduce the complexity and weight of the mechanism, making the system easier to control and more applicable to use.…”

Design and Implementation of a Three-Link Brachiation Robot with Optimal Control Based Trajectory Tracking Controller

“…[16] designed a two-link brachiation robot for bridge inspection. [17] built three-link robot but the arms of their robot were too short to generate dynamical effects, thus in their work arms were neglected in the robot model. The recent "Tarzan" robot [18] was mainly focused on how to traverse along a flexible cable, while the robot was still designed to have two-link structure.…”