Robotic advances for increasingly complex tasks especially in the field of search and rescue or exploration are limited for wheeled systems, therefore the study of legged locomotion for robotic applications has become more important. To successfully navigate in regions with rough terrain, a robot must not only be able to negotiate obstacles, but also climb steep inclines. Following the principles of biomimetics, we developed a modular bio-inspired climbing robot, using generic hardware components and rapid prototyping, aiming to mimic the lizards bauplan including an actuated spine, shoulders, and feet which interlock with the surface via claws. We included the ability to modify gait and hardware parameters and simultaneously collect data with the robot’s sensors on climbed distance, slip occurrence and efficiency.
We first explored the speed-stability trade off and its interaction with limb swing phase dynamics, finding a sigmoidal pattern of limb movement resulted in the greatest distance travelled. By modifying wrist orientation, we found two optima for both speed and stability, suggesting multiple stable configurations. We varied spine and limb range of motion, again showing two possible optimum configurations, and finally varied the centre of pro- and retraction on climbing performance, showing an advantage for protracted limbs during the stride. We then stacked optimal regions of performance and show that combining optimal dynamic patterns with either foot angles or ROM configurations have the greatest performance, but further optima stacking resulted in a decrease in performance, suggesting complex interactions between kinematic parameters. The search of optimal parameter configurations might not only be beneficial to improve robotic in-field operations but may also further the study of the locomotive evolution of climbing of animals, like lizards or insects.
Details
Title
A bio-inspired robotic climbing robot to understand kinematic and morphological determinants for an optimal climbing gait
Authors
Christofer Clemente (Data Collector) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering