Journal of Bionic Engineering ›› 2022, Vol. 19 ›› Issue (4): 975-990.doi: 10.1007/s42235-022-00192-2

• • 上一篇    

Bio-inspired Leg Design for a Heavy-Duty Hexapod Robot

Haoyuan Yi1, Zhenyu Xu1,2, Xueting Xin2, Liming Zhou2, Xin Luo1   

  1. 1 State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China  2 Research Institute, Inner Mongolia First Machinery Group Co. Ltd, Baotou 014030, China
  • 收稿日期:2021-09-09 修回日期:2022-03-22 接受日期:2022-03-23 出版日期:2022-09-22 发布日期:2022-09-22
  • 通讯作者: Xin Luo E-mail:mexinluo@mail.hust.edu.cn
  • 作者简介:Haoyuan Yi1, Zhenyu Xu1,2, Xueting Xin2, Liming Zhou2, Xin Luo1

Bio-inspired Leg Design for a Heavy-Duty Hexapod Robot

Haoyuan Yi1, Zhenyu Xu1,2, Xueting Xin2, Liming Zhou2, Xin Luo1   

  1. 1 State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China  2 Research Institute, Inner Mongolia First Machinery Group Co. Ltd, Baotou 014030, China
  • Received:2021-09-09 Revised:2022-03-22 Accepted:2022-03-23 Online:2022-09-22 Published:2022-09-22
  • Contact: Xin Luo E-mail:mexinluo@mail.hust.edu.cn
  • About author:Haoyuan Yi1, Zhenyu Xu1,2, Xueting Xin2, Liming Zhou2, Xin Luo1

摘要: The leg structure is crucial to the legged robot's motion performance. With the size and load of the legged robot increasing, the difficulty of leg design increases sharply. Inspired by biomechanics, this paper proposes a leg design approach based on effective mechanical advantage (EMA) for developing the heavy-duty legged robot. The bio-inspired design approach can reduce the demand for joint actuation forces during walking by optimizing the ratio relationship between the joint driving force and ground contact force. A dimensionless EMA model of the leg for the heavy-duty legged robot is constructed in this paper. Leg dimensions and hinge point locations are optimized according to the EMA and energy-optimal criterion. Based on the optimal leg structure, an electrically driven tri-segmented leg prototype is developed. The leg's joint hinge points are located near the main support line, and the load-to-weight ratio is 15:1. The leg can realize a swing frequency of 0.63 Hz at the stride length of 0.8 m, and the maximum stride length can reach 1.5 m.

关键词: Legged robot , · EMA , · Heavy-duty , · Bio-inspired

Abstract: The leg structure is crucial to the legged robot's motion performance. With the size and load of the legged robot increasing, the difficulty of leg design increases sharply. Inspired by biomechanics, this paper proposes a leg design approach based on effective mechanical advantage (EMA) for developing the heavy-duty legged robot. The bio-inspired design approach can reduce the demand for joint actuation forces during walking by optimizing the ratio relationship between the joint driving force and ground contact force. A dimensionless EMA model of the leg for the heavy-duty legged robot is constructed in this paper. Leg dimensions and hinge point locations are optimized according to the EMA and energy-optimal criterion. Based on the optimal leg structure, an electrically driven tri-segmented leg prototype is developed. The leg's joint hinge points are located near the main support line, and the load-to-weight ratio is 15:1. The leg can realize a swing frequency of 0.63 Hz at the stride length of 0.8 m, and the maximum stride length can reach 1.5 m.

Key words: Legged robot , · EMA , · Heavy-duty , · Bio-inspired