Initial Development of a Novel Amphibious Robot with Transformable Fin-Leg Composite Propulsion Mechanisms

摘要/Abstract

关键词: amphibious robot, transformable fin-leg, composite propulsion mechanism, amphibious environment

Abstract:

Amphibious robots are very attractive for their broad applications in resource exploration, disaster rescue, and recon-naissance. However, it is very challenging to develop the robots for their complex, amphibious working environments. In the complex amphibious environment, amphibious robots should possess multi-capabilities to walk on rough ground, maneuver underwater, and pass through transitional zones such as sandy and muddy terrain. These capabilities require a high-performance propulsion mechanism for the robots. To tackle a complex task, a novel amphibious robot (AmphiHex-I) with,transformable fin-leg composite propulsion mechanisms is developed. With the fin-leg composite propulsions, AmphiHex-I can walk on rough and soft substrates and swim in water with many maneuvers. This paper presents the structural design of the transformable fin-leg propulsion mechanism and its driving module. A hybrid model is used to explore the dynamics between the trans-formable legs and transitional environment such as granular medium. The locomotion performances of legs with various ellip-tical shapes are analyzed, which is verified by the coincidence between the model predictions and the simulation results. Further, an orthogonal experiment is conducted to study the locomotion performance of a two-legged platform walking with an asyn-chronous gait in the sandy and muddy terrain. Finally, initial experiments of AmphiHex-I walking on various lands and swimming in water are implemented. These results verify that the transformable fin-leg mechanisms enable the amphibious robot to pass through a complex, amphibious working environment.

Key words: amphibious robot, transformable fin-leg, composite propulsion mechanism, amphibious environment

Shiwu Zhang, Xu Liang, Lichao Xu, Min Xu. [J]. J4, 2013, 10(4): 434-445.

Shiwu Zhang, Xu Liang, Lichao Xu, Min Xu. Initial Development of a Novel Amphibious Robot with Transformable Fin-Leg Composite Propulsion Mechanisms[J]. J4, 2013, 10(4): 434-445.

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