A bio-inspired robotic climbing robot to understand kinematic and morphological determinants for an optimal climbing gait

Abstract

Robotic systems for complex tasks, such as search and rescue or exploration, are limited for wheeled designs, thus the study of legged locomotion for robotic applications has become increasingly 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, named X4, which mimics the lizard’s 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 foot 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.

Multilevel dynamic adjustments of geckos ( Hemidactylus frenatus ) climbing vertically: head-up versus head-down

“…Several studies have reported that lizards and other climbing animals such as cockroaches adhere to the surface with foot angles diverging from the direction of climbing. The associated lateral forces can reach up to 50% of the vertical (fore-aft) forces, suggesting this may be a common modification in adhesion strategy [15,23,28,[32][33][34]. Using a modular gecko-inspired robot, Schultz et al [35] and Beck et al [32] investigated a wide range of combinations of foreand hindfoot angles to determine why foot angles diverge from the seemingly ideal direction where they oppose the gravitational force vector directly.…”

“…The associated lateral forces can reach up to 50% of the vertical (fore-aft) forces, suggesting this may be a common modification in adhesion strategy [15,23,28,[32][33][34]. Using a modular gecko-inspired robot, Schultz et al [35] and Beck et al [32] investigated a wide range of combinations of foreand hindfoot angles to determine why foot angles diverge from the seemingly ideal direction where they oppose the gravitational force vector directly. Mirroring the results reported here for the forefoot of the geckos during head-up climbing (i.e.…”