Effect of Body Rotation on Sliding Motion of an Underactuated Locomotion Robot Utilizing Reaction Wheel

Abstract

Abstract The authors proposed an underactuated locomotion robot with quick return linkage aiming at generation of a forward motion on a slippery level surface. In this paper, for investigating the effect of the body rotation on sliding, we introduce an underactuated locomotion robot with an actively-controlled inner reaction wheel. First, we introduce the mathematical model of the robot and the asymmetric body rotation control. Second, we numerically investigate the effects of the body rotation on forward motion generation. Finally, we report the results of parametric analysis for the rotation frequency, its amplitude and the center of mass height through numerical simulation, and we show the possibility that the body rotation improves the efficiency of forward motion generation.