J4 ›› 2013, Vol. 10 ›› Issue (4): 446-455.doi: 10.1016/S1672-6529(13)60248-6

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  • 收稿日期:2013-01-15 修回日期:2013-09-05 出版日期:2013-09-09 发布日期:2013-10-10

Development of an Amphibious Turtle-Inspired Spherical Mother Robot

Liwei Shi, Shuxiang Guo, Shilian Mao, Chunfeng Yue, Maoxun Li, Kinji Asaka   

  1. 1. School of Life Science, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, P. R. China
    2. Faculty of Engineering, Kagawa University, 2217-20 Hayashi-cho, Takamatsu, Kagawa 761-0396, Japan
    3. Graduate School of Engineering, Kagawa University, 2217-20 Hayashi-cho, Takamatsu, Kagawa 761-0396, Japan
    4. Kansai Research Institute, AIST, 1-8-31 Midorigaoka, Ikeda, Osaka 563-8577, Japan
  • Received:2013-01-15 Revised:2013-09-05 Online:2013-09-09 Published:2013-10-10
  • Contact: Liwei Shi E-mail:slw8304@hotmail.com, shi@eng.kagawa-u.ac.jp
  • About author:Liwei Shi, Shuxiang Guo, Shilian Mao, Chunfeng Yue, Maoxun Li, Kinji Asaka

关键词: amphibious robot, biomimetic underwater robot, mother-son robot system, spherical robot, vectored water-jet pro-peller

Abstract:

Robots play an important role in underwater monitoring and recovery operations, such as pollution detection, submarine sampling and data collection, video mapping, and object recovery in dangerous places. However, regular-sized robots may not be suitable for applications in some restricted underwater environments. Accordingly, in previous research we designed several novel types of bio-inspired microrobots using Ionic Polymer Metal Composite (IPMC) and Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) ac-tuators. These microrobots possess some attributes of compact structure, multi-functionality, flexibility, and precise positioning. However, they lack the attributes of long endurance, stable high speed, and large load capacity necessary for real-world appli-cations. To overcome these disadvantages, we proposed a mother-son robot system, composed of several microrobots as sons and a newly designed amphibious spherical robot as the mother. Inspired by amphibious turtles, the mother robot was designed with a spherical body and four legs with two Degrees of Freedom (DOF). It is actuated by four vectored water-jet propellers and ten servomotors, and it is capable of walking on land and cruising underwater. We analysed the mother robot’s walking and underwater cruising mechanisms, constructed a prototype, and carried out a series of experiments to evaluate its amphibious motions. Good motion performance was observed in the experiments.

Key words: amphibious robot, biomimetic underwater robot, mother-son robot system, spherical robot, vectored water-jet pro-peller