Wheeled hopping robot with combustion-powered actuator

Abstract

While exploring complex environments, conventional mobile robots can overcome obstacles of limited height and jumping robots can overcome obstacles several times their own size. When jumping motion and wheeled or tracked motion are combined to form a composite motion, robots have even better ability to traverse rugged terrain. Therefore, we designed a wheeled hopping robot with a novel combustion-powered actuator and carried out structural design and experimental studies. The combustion-powered actuator has a unique inlet scheme and good sealing performance and is easy to install. The jump height equation was obtained by analyzing the combustion process. With the help of orthogonal array design methods, the factors that affect the wheeled hopping robot's jumping height were analyzed to improve its key design parameters and optimize its jumping performance. Finally, experiments were performed with the actuator and the wheeled hopping robot. When the stoichiometric ratio of the mixed fuels nears complete combustion, the combustionpowered actuator can jump 7.5 m high with a payload of 3.75 kg and its own weight of 1.25 kg, and the wheeled hopping robot can jump 4.5 m high with a payload of 6 kg. Evaluating the robot's performance in terms of energy efficiency reveals that it has a significant jumping advantage.

Jumping Locomotion Strategies: From Animals to Bioinspired Robots

“…The third-generation of jumping robots proposed by Fiorini et al [145] uses differential wheels to achieve adjustment of the jumping direction. This is the most popular strategy, also adopted by other wheeled jumping robots to control the jumping direction [34,214,215].…”

“…The actuation of jumping robots through explosive energy supply, favored by the adoption of soft structures, is largely studied. These robots are often equipped with multi-actuation systems and manufactured exploiting multi-material printing technologies [32][33][34][35][36]. Jumping robots that are actuated by external magnetic fields can achieve multi-locomotion modes and can realize fast switch [37] between different locomotion modes.…”

Walking locomotion of a cable-driven soft-legged robot

“…Hopping robots complete the hopping action through a short-time energy release, such as mechanical energy 18 or combustion energy. 19,20 This type of robot has excellent potential for development; however, stability control remains a challenge in the current stage.…”

Models of a hybrid wheeled hopping self-balanced robot

“…Hideyuki Tsukagoshi of Tokyo University of technology and others have designed a new type of jumping robot that combines wheeled and jump locomotion. [15][16][17] The spring power source is driven by compressed air injection. The servo electric control controls the direction of the air tank nozzle to adjust the take-off angle.…”