The quadruped locomotion robot with the flexible materials

Abstract

This paper proposed a small and light actuator based on an easy ON-OFF control to movement walking robot. We named a flexible, flat plate to FFP actuator as an actuator of a flexible locomotion robot. The FFP actuator is a versatile actuator that mechanically obtains flexible displacement by combining functional materials like the shape-memory alloy with a simple lamina structure lightly not broken. The center of gravity movement is achieved by the expansion and contraction of a flexible lamina. In the robots that proposes, the actuators and the structures are unification. The assembly of this robot is possible at few time. The resulting robot weighs a mear 5.8 g (with a height of 80 mm). By miniaturizing flexible robots, execution of more detailed work becomes possible. This robot is certain to save the loading payload approximately 1.5 times the empty weight of the robot (onboard load of the about 0 g). We achieved quadruped locomotion robot without the falling depending on the average speed of about 1.5 mm/second.