Energy-efficiency hexapod walking robot for humanitarian demining

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this paper is to introduce a hexapod walking robot specifically designed for applications in humanitarian demining, intended to operate autonomously for several hours. To this end, the paper presents an experimental study for the evaluation of its energy efficiency. Design/methodology/approach First, the interest of using a walking robot for detection and localization of anti-personnel landmines is described, followed by the description of the mechanical system and the control architecture of the hexapod robot. Second, the energy efficiency of the hexapod robot is assessed to demonstrate its autonomy for performing humanitarian demining tasks. To achieve this, the power consumed by the robot is measured and logged, with a number of different payloads placed on-board (always including the scanning manipulator arm assembled on the robot front end), during the execution of a discontinuous gait on flat terrain. Findings The hexapod walking robot has demonstrated low energy consumption when it is carrying out several locomotion cycles with different loads on it, which is fundamental to have a desired autonomy. It should be considered that the robot has a mass of about 250 kg and that it has been loaded with additional masses of up to 170 kg during the experiments, with a consumption of mean power of 72 W, approximately. Originality/value This work provides insight on the use of a walking robot for humanitarian demining tasks, which has high stability and an autonomy of about 3 hours for a robot with high mass and high payload. In addition, the robot can be supervised and controlled remotely, which is an added value when it is working in the field.

Swarm Robots Cooperative and Persistent Distribution Modeling and Optimization Based on the Smart Community Logistics Service Framework

“…As shown on the left of Figure 3, Hector Montes and Lisbeth Mena found that the power consumption of the robot is significantly affected by the load weight, which means that its transportation time is related to the load weight [43]. On this basis, we developed a function where load weight affects running time, as shown in the right side of Figure 3 and the Equation (1).…”

Modeling and Analysis on Energy Consumption of Hydraulic Quadruped Robot for Optimal Trot Motion Control

“…During the stance phase, the trunk of the robot is moving forward. According to Equations (16), (22), and (34), in order to minimize the energy consumption, joint torques have to be as small as possible. Then, the first component of M, which is F x = Ma, have to be small.…”

“…In order to verify the energy model proposed in this paper, some experiments are carried out. Different from the electrical actuated robots [21,22], the energy consumption of a hydraulic actuated robot is obtained by the data of joint sensors. For SCalf, the position and force sensors mounted on the actuator (Figure 4) are used to measure the cylinder lengths c i and joint forces τ i (i = 1, 2).…”

Petals

“…Because of the difficulty of deploying technology within these constraints, a human with a metal detector has remained the primary method of mine clearance since the 1950s [9,12,27]. Even though safer methods such as machine [7,17], robotic [30,33] or animal clearance [6,8,29,34] are available, their use is not widespread because machines are expensive to maintain and are constrained by terrain, while animals are difficult to train and are practically suited only for specific clearance scenarios [13,17]. As of 2005, there were 48 manual mine clearance programs worldwide [9].…”