Constrained convergent gait regulation for a climbing robot

Trujillo, S.; Heyneman, Barrett; Cutkosky, Mark R.

doi:10.1109/robot.2010.5509242

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 23 publications

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“…Previously built bio-inspired climbing robots rely upon successful functionalities observed in their biological counterparts. For climbing smooth surfaces like glass, Geckobot [1] relies upon suction cups and Stickybot [2] upon directional dry adhesives such as found in gecko feet. For climbing rougher surfaces like brick, Spinybot [3,4] uses spines to dig into asperities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scalybot: A Snake-Inspired Robot With Active Control of Friction

Marvi

Meyers

Russell

et al. 2011

ASME 2011 Dynamic Systems and Control Conference and Bath/Asme Symposium on Fluid Power and Motion Control, Volume 2

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Snakes are one of the world’s most versatile locomotors, at ease slithering through rubble or ratcheting up vertical tree trunks. Their adaptations for movement across complex dry terrain thus serve naturally as inspirations for search-and-rescue robotics. In this combined experimental and theoretical study, we perform experiments on inclined surfaces to show a snake’s scales are critical anatomical features that enable climbing. We find corn snakes actively change their scale angle of attack by contracting their ventral muscles and lifting their bodies. We use this novel paradigm to design Scalybot, a two-link limbless robot with individually controlled sets of belly scales. The robot ascends styrofoam plates inclined up to 45°, demonstrating a climbing ability comparable to that of a corn snake in the same conditions. The robot uses individual servos to provide a spatial and temporal dependence of its belly friction, effectively anchoring the stationary part of its body while reducing frictional drag of its sliding section. The ability to actively modulate friction increases both the robot’s efficiency over horizontal surfaces and the limiting angles of inclination it can ascend.

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