On the Design and Experiments of a Gas Fuel-powered Hopping Robot

doi:10.3901/JME.2016.11.019

Abstract

Abstract: A hopping robot, powered by combustible gas mixture, is designed, which includes a hopping actuator and a wheeled locomotive structure. The actuator is characterized by a double-piston structure and a magnetic latch, which are beneficial to the volume reduction, reset and waste gas exclusion of the actuator. The wheeled structure consists of a vehicle body and honeycombed wheels. The vehicle body serves as the carrier of the hopping actuator, while wheels as landing buffer of the robot. The equivalent radial, tangential and shear modulus of wheels are calculated, and then Timoshenko Beam Theory is used for static analysis of wheels, and analytic results agree well with experimental data. The energy consumption of wheels during landing is obtained by landing collision simulation using LS-DYNA. The hopping locomotion of the robot is planned and hopping experiments show the robot can jump onto or over obstacles, and hopping ability of the robot is verified. This research provides a feasible technical scheme for improving the capability of field robots over unknown and complex terrains.

Key words: gas fuel-powered, honeycombed wheels, hopping actuator, hopping robot, motion planning

CLC Number:

TP242

ZUO Fangrui, WANG Huaming, LUAN Yunguang, ZHU Jianying, WANG Zhen, HUANG Qingyun. On the Design and Experiments of a Gas Fuel-powered Hopping Robot[J]. Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 2016, 52(11): 19-21.

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