Abstract
This paper presents a legged-wheeled hybrid robotic vehicle that uses a combination of rigid and non-rigid joints, allowing it to be more impact-tolerant. The robot has four legs, each one with three degrees of freedom. Each leg has two non-rigid rotational joints with completely passive components for damping and accumulation of kinetic energy, one rigid rotational joint, and a driving wheel. Each leg uses three independent DC motors—one for each joint, as well as a fourth one for driving the wheel. The four legs have the same position configuration, except for the upper hip joint. The vehicle was designed to be modular, low-cost, and its parts to be interchangeable. Beyond this, the vehicle has multiple operation modes, including a low-power mode. Across this article, the design, modeling, and control stages are presented, as well as the communication strategy. A prototype platform was built to serve as a test bed, which is described throughout the article. The mechanical design and applied hardware for each leg have been improved, and these changes are described. The mechanical and hardware structure of the complete robot is also presented, as well as the software and communication approaches. Moreover, a realistic simulation is introduced, along with the obtained results.
Highlights
Accepted: 28 June 2021 the research in the field of robotics in multilegged vehicles is becoming increasingly common, in the field of centaur-like quadrupeds, there is no clear solution that is unanimously better than others, largely depending on the vehicle’s purpose
The research in the field of robotics in multilegged vehicles is becoming increasingly common, in the field of centaur-like quadrupeds, there is no clear solution that is unanimously better than others, largely depending on the vehicle’s purpose
Another difference between these vehicles is the fact that the legged robot is less stable compared to the traditional mobile vehicle, given the fact that it has several movable points along its members, which are floating
Summary
The research in the field of robotics in multilegged vehicles is becoming increasingly common, in the field of centaur-like quadrupeds, there is no clear solution that is unanimously better than others, largely depending on the vehicle’s purpose. Considering what was mentioned above, two main objectives for the construction of the robot presented in this article were the cost reduction—designing a low-cost robot—as well as the maximization of its modularity. A realistic simulation model of the presented vehicle has been developed and tested in the SimTwo simulator software This free robotics simulator provides an environment with incorporated dynamics and features the possibility to model different types of robots—from manipulators to mobile robots. Throughout the article, the mechanical design and construction of the robot will be presented, and both the individual and complete control strategy for each leg and the robot are described.
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