ROBOMECH Journal (Aug 2023)

A mobile robot driven by uniaxial wave locomotion mechanism

  • Kento Yoshida,
  • Kenji Nagaoka

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40648-023-00254-y
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
pp. 1 – 9

Abstract

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Abstract This paper presents a novel mobile robot system that uses a uniaxial wave locomotion mechanism. The proposed mechanism can mechanically produce uniaxial surface waves by a single actuator to rotate a helix component that has discrete helical wings. This involves multiple pins with springs and a link mechanism. We designed and developed a mobile robot consisting of a main body and two helical wave locomotion units arranged in parallel. This paper also presents a locomotion model based on the proposed mechanics. The developed robot prototype demonstrated mobility on various surfaces and its skid-steering performance was evaluated. The experimental results validated the feasibility of the proposed wave-locomotion mechanism.

Keywords