|Volume 22 Issue 3 - Publication Date: 1 March 2003
|Parallel Complementary Strategies
For Implementing Biological Principles Into Mobile Robots
|Roger D. Quinn, Gabriel
M. Nelson, Richard J. Bachmann, Daniel A. Kingsley, John
T. Offi and Thomas J. Allen Department of Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA and
Roy E. Ritzmann Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University,
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
|Our goal is to use intelligent
biological inspiration to develop robots that capture the capacity of animals
to traverse complex terrain. We follow two distinct but complementary strategies
to meet this goal. In one, we have produced a series of robots that have
mechanical and control designs increasingly more similar to those of a cockroach.
The leg designs of these robots ensure that they can generate movements
used by the cockroach to walk and climb over a range of objects. However,
in order to take advantage of these complex designs, we must first solve
difficult problems in actuation, proprioception and control. The second
parallel strategy seeks to capture the principles of biological movement,
but in an abstract form that does not require complex platforms. Following
the second strategy, we designed and built two new robots that each use
only one propulsion motor to generate a nominal tripod gait. Gait changes
similar to those used by the animal are accomplished through passive mechanisms.
Rearing movements in anticipation of climbing are accomplished by way of
a body flexion joint, which also allows the robot to avoid high-centering.
The parallel development of these robotic lines provides the best of both
worlds. The multi-segmented leg designs will ultimately be more versatile
and agile than the abstracted line, but will take more effort to perfect.
The simplified line provides short-term solutions that can be deployed immediately
and confirm, in principle, the value of biological properties for complex