Design and Analysis of a Bioinspired Foot Mechanism based on Tensegrity Structure

Abstract

Traditional feet robots have shortcomings of mechanism flexibility insufficient in adaptive walking on complex terrain. A bio-tensegrity foot mechanism is proposed for promoting the performance of adaptive terrain and stable locking locomotion of the conventional foot robots on sloped terrain based on the similarity between musculoskeletal systems and a tensegrity structure. The equivalent mapping model of a tensegrity structure is established by the matching of tension unit，the design of configuration of the mechanism achieved by the method of bionic design，a physical sample is made and an experimental platform is built. The results show that the proposed bionic foot mechanism has good flexibility and stability，the adaptive and stable walking ability of the traditional foot robot on slope terrain are improved.

Keywords

• Tensegrity structure;Bioinspired design;Adaptive motion;Locking mechanism