Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sogang University, 35 Baekbeom-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul 04107, Republic of Korea.
Bioinspir Biomim. 2017 Jun 15;12(4):046003. doi: 10.1088/1748-3190/aa728c.
Caterpillars are very successful soft-bodied climbers that navigate in complex environments. This paper develops a multi-segmented robot climbing on vertical surfaces using dry adhesive pads, inspired by caterpillar locomotion. The miniaturized robot consists of four segments, and each segment uses a solenoid actuator with a permanent magnet plunger. The head and body segments adapt a novel mechanism and Scott-Russell linkages to generate a bi-directional plane motion using one solenoid actuator, resulting to reliable attaching and peeling motions of gecko pads. A tail is also attached at the back of the last segment to avoid falling or exhibiting unstable motion. Gecko-inspired adhesive pads are fabricated from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with the area of 20 mm × 10 mm. We have conducted experiments on the locomotion performance of the segment robot climbing vertical surfaces for two types of locomotion, achieving the fast and stable climbing motion.
毛毛虫是非常成功的软体攀爬者,它们能够在复杂的环境中导航。本文受毛毛虫运动启发,开发了一种使用干式粘附垫在垂直表面上爬行的多节机器人。微型机器人由四个节段组成,每个节段都使用带有永磁柱塞的螺线管致动器。头部和身体节段采用新颖的机构和斯科特-拉塞尔连杆,使用一个螺线管致动器产生双向平面运动,从而实现壁虎垫的可靠附着和剥离运动。最后一个节段的背面还附有一个尾巴,以避免掉落或表现出不稳定的运动。受壁虎启发的粘附垫由聚二甲基硅氧烷(PDMS)制成,面积为 20 毫米 × 10 毫米。我们已经对两种运动类型的节段机器人在垂直表面上的运动性能进行了实验,实现了快速和稳定的攀爬运动。