Triaxial Symmetric Robots: State of the Art and Trends

Abstract

-Mobile robots currently attract huge interest due to their extraordinary palette of applications, from intelligent toys to complex industrial uses. Different categories of applications have brought the need to develop a wide variety of original locomotion systems, depending on the particular task that needs to be executed. Therefore, several aspects must be considered: the locomotion type, the environment in which the movement is performed, the dynamic requirements (i.e. speed, acceleration), sensor endowment, and safety measures to ensure both the preservation of the robot and of the surrounding life forms. A new trend, increasingly explored lately, consists of using triaxial symmetric robots with rolling and/or jumping locomotion capabilities. Triaxial symmetric robots can be identified as a typology of robots with geometrical symmetry features on all three axes, showing multiple advantages, like: fast recovery after a collision with an obstacle, no overturning risk, the ability of moving in various directions without needing additional movements when switching positions. These characteristics recommend the implementation of the above mentioned robotic structures in situations when the need for multi-modal locomotion concepts arises, the risk of hitting obstacles is unavoidable, high resilience is required, landform transition environment (i.e. shallow waters, swamps), and for surveillance and reconnaissance tasks. The development perspectives in the area are practically endless, therefore the article performs a summary of the state of art in these practical locomotion solutions and proposes new research directions in the same area.