In this paper the kinematic analysis of a six-legged robot, hereafter named Hex-piderix, is carried out. A three revolute (3R) chain has been chosen for each limb in order to mimic the leg structure of an insect. The rotation matrix, with unitary vectors, and the Denavit-Hartenberg (D-H) conventions are used to find the pose of the thorax. The problem of inverse position is solved by geometrical analysis. The direct and inverse infinitesimal kinematics are obtained by the reciprocal screw theory, considering a suction cup attached to each leg and modelling it as a UP linkage. A numerical example of the thorax pose was made by solving the equations obtained from the direct position analysis. The equations of the inverse position analysis were solved to obtain the angles of the joints. Finally, the velocity values of the thorax obtained from the infinitesimal kinematics were validated by simulating the movements of Hex-piderix using specialized software.

In this contribution, the Jacobian analysis of a four-legged six-degrees-of-freedom decoupled parallel manipulator is carried out through the screw theory. As an intermediate step, for the sake of completeness the inverse/forward displacement analysis as well as the computation of the workspace of the robot are achieved by taking advantage of the decoupled orientation and position of the moving platform. Afterward, the input/output equation of velocity of the parallel robot is obtained by harnessing of the properties of reciprocal screw systems. Once the Jacobian matrices are identified and investigated, the analysis of singularities for the robot manipulator emerges as a natural application of the Jacobian analysis. Numerical examples are included with the purpose to show the practicality and versatility of the method of kinematic analysis. Furthermore, the numerical results obtained by means of the theory of screws are successfully verified with the aid of commercially available software like ADAMS.INDEX TERMS Kinematics, Parallel robot, Screw theory, Singular posture, Uncoupled kinematics.

Soft robotics is a rapidly advancing field that leverages the mechanical properties of flexible materials for applications necessitating safe interaction and exceptional adaptability within the environment. This paper focuses on developing a pneumatic soft robot bio-inspired in annelids or segmented worms. Segmentation, also called metamerism, increases the efficiency in body movement by allowing the effect of muscle contraction to generate peristaltic locomotion. The robot was built using elastomers by the casting technique. A sequence of locomotion based on two stages, relaxation and contraction, was proposed; the contraction stage is actuated by a vacuum pump. The locomotion performances are compared using different elastomers, such as Ecoflex 00-30, Dragon Skin 20, Mold Star 15 Slow, and Mold Star 30. Experimental tests were carried out inside a plexiglass pipe, 1 inch in diameter; a wide range of frequencies was tested for relaxation and contraction stages to evaluate the effect on the speed of the robot.

Cracking on surfaces as walls or roofs of a building results in a rapid deterioration of such structures. Access to these places is sometimes very difficult for people. One approach to solve such inconvenient is the use of climbing robots provided with sensing devices. In this paper, we propose a computer vision system using image analysis for inspection. A stereo camera is mounted on the thorax of a hexapod robot, named Hex-piderix. The images are processed using a method described in this document. It is a method invariant to illumination to detect cracks in the surface. Image is improved through the estimation and removal of lighting pattern, and then a thresholding is applied using Otsu method. Finally morphological operations are applied to extract crack information.