Development of Leg-Wheel Hybrid Quadruped “AirHopper”: Lightweight Leg-Wheel Design

Takahiro Tanaka; Shigeo Hirose

doi:10.20965/jrm.2008.p0526

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JRM Vol.20 No.4 pp. 526-532

doi: 10.20965/jrm.2008.p0526

(2008)

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Development of Leg-Wheel Hybrid Quadruped “AirHopper”: Lightweight Leg-Wheel Design

Takahiro Tanaka and Shigeo Hirose

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Oh-okayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8552, Japan

Received:

March 26, 2008

Accepted:

June 4, 2008

Published:

August 20, 2008

Keywords:

AirHopper, pneumatic actuator, leg-wheel hybrid jumping robot

Abstract

The “AirHopper” leg-wheel hybrid jumping robot we propose is expected to navigate uneven terrain difficult to traverse for ordinary vehicles carrying supplies for disaster-hit areas or isolated districts. To give it high mobility and enable jumping, the AirHopper consists of (1) 4 widespred spiderlike legs for stability, (2) active wheels on its feet driven by built-in motors and transmissions, (3) 2 decoupled pneumatic cylinders, and (4) a built-in piston that drives a 4-bar linkage leg. We propose a powerful leg with a wide movable range and a compact, lightweight wheel drive that minimizes adverse effects. Experiments verified the feasibility of these mechanisms. We also developed an “AirHopper-II” leg-wheel hybrid jumping robot using these 2 mechanisms. AirHopper-II jumped 850 mm vertically and landed softly by controlling in-cylinder pressure. In preliminary experiments, we tested wheel drive jumping to acquire basic data for the next model.

Cite this article as:

T. Tanaka and S. Hirose, “Development of Leg-Wheel Hybrid Quadruped “AirHopper”: Lightweight Leg-Wheel Design,” J. Robot. Mechatron., Vol.20 No.4, pp. 526-532, 2008.

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References

[1] M. H. Raibert, “Legged Robots That Balance,” The MIT Press, 1986.
[2] T. Estier, Y. Crausaz, B. Merminod, M. Lauria, R. Piguet, and R. Siegwart, “An innovative Space Rover with Extended Climbing Alilities,” Proceedings of Space and Robotics 2000, Albuquerque, USA, February 27-March 2, 2000.
[3] F. Michaud, D. Letourneau, M. Arsenault, Y. Bergeron, R. Cadrin, F. Gagnon, M.-A. Legault, M. Millette, J.-F. Pare, M.-C. Tremblay, P. Lapage, Y. Morin, J. Bisson, and S. Caron, “AZIMUT, a legtrack-wheel robot,” Proc. IROS 2003, Las Vegas, Vol.3, pp. 2553-2558, 2003.
[4] H. Tsukagoshi, M. Sasaki, A. Kitagawa, and T. Tanaka, “Design of a Higher Jumping Rescue Robot with the Optimized Pneumatic Drive,” Proc. of the 2005 IEEE ICRA, pp. 1288-1295, 2005.
[5] G. Endo and S. Hirose, “Study on Roller-Walker: System Integration and Basic Experiments,” Proc. ICRA, Detroit, pp. 2032-2037, 1999.
[6] S. Nakajima, E. Nakano, and T. Takahashi, “The Set Up Method of Legs’ Compliance for Crawl Gait of a Leg-wheel Robot,” JRSJ, Vol.22, No.8, pp. 109-117.
[7] C. Grand, F. BenAmar, F. Plumet, and Ph. Bidaud, “Decoupled control of posture and trajectory of the hybrid wheel-legged robot Hylos,” IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, Vol.5, pp. 5111-5116, 2004.
[8] F. Kikuchi, Y. Ota, and S. Hirose, “Basic Performance Experiments for Jumping Quadruped,” Proc. IROS, Las Vegas, pp. 3374-3383, 2003.
[9] T. Aoki, A. Ochiai, and S. Hirose, “Study on Slime Robot Development of the mobile robot prototype model using Bridle Bellows,” Proc. ICRA, New Orleans, pp. 2808-2813, 2004.
[10] E. Nakano, H. Okubo, and H. Kimura, “Landing control for a jumping machine,” Advanced Robotics, Vol.7, No.4, pp. 329-342, 1993.

This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationa License.

[1] [1] M. H. Raibert, “Legged Robots That Balance,” The MIT Press, 1986.

[2] [2] T. Estier, Y. Crausaz, B. Merminod, M. Lauria, R. Piguet, and R. Siegwart, “An innovative Space Rover with Extended Climbing Alilities,” Proceedings of Space and Robotics 2000, Albuquerque, USA, February 27-March 2, 2000.

[3] [3] F. Michaud, D. Letourneau, M. Arsenault, Y. Bergeron, R. Cadrin, F. Gagnon, M.-A. Legault, M. Millette, J.-F. Pare, M.-C. Tremblay, P. Lapage, Y. Morin, J. Bisson, and S. Caron, “AZIMUT, a legtrack-wheel robot,” Proc. IROS 2003, Las Vegas, Vol.3, pp. 2553-2558, 2003.

[4] [4] H. Tsukagoshi, M. Sasaki, A. Kitagawa, and T. Tanaka, “Design of a Higher Jumping Rescue Robot with the Optimized Pneumatic Drive,” Proc. of the 2005 IEEE ICRA, pp. 1288-1295, 2005.

[5] [5] G. Endo and S. Hirose, “Study on Roller-Walker: System Integration and Basic Experiments,” Proc. ICRA, Detroit, pp. 2032-2037, 1999.

[6] [6] S. Nakajima, E. Nakano, and T. Takahashi, “The Set Up Method of Legs’ Compliance for Crawl Gait of a Leg-wheel Robot,” JRSJ, Vol.22, No.8, pp. 109-117.

[7] [7] C. Grand, F. BenAmar, F. Plumet, and Ph. Bidaud, “Decoupled control of posture and trajectory of the hybrid wheel-legged robot Hylos,” IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation, Vol.5, pp. 5111-5116, 2004.

[8] [8] F. Kikuchi, Y. Ota, and S. Hirose, “Basic Performance Experiments for Jumping Quadruped,” Proc. IROS, Las Vegas, pp. 3374-3383, 2003.

[9] [9] T. Aoki, A. Ochiai, and S. Hirose, “Study on Slime Robot Development of the mobile robot prototype model using Bridle Bellows,” Proc. ICRA, New Orleans, pp. 2808-2813, 2004.

[10] [10] E. Nakano, H. Okubo, and H. Kimura, “Landing control for a jumping machine,” Advanced Robotics, Vol.7, No.4, pp. 329-342, 1993.