School of Mechanical Engineering, Changchun University of Technology, Changchun City, China.
Key Laboratory of Bionic Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun City, China.
Soft Robot. 2019 Dec;6(6):778-789. doi: 10.1089/soro.2018.0168. Epub 2019 Aug 16.
Traditional robotic feet have received considerable attention for adaptive locomotion on complex terrain. As an alternative, tensegrity structures have the essential characteristics of deformability, adaptability to the environment, and impact resistance. This article proposes ways to solve the problem of adaptive locomotion on complex terrain based on a tensegrity structure and shows that this approach is particularly useful. On the basis of the locomotion mechanism and morphological structure of the human foot, a structural mapping model of a tetrahedral mast tensegrity structure is established through bionic mapping. A model of an adaptive foot mechanism is established through bioinspired design. Theoretical calculations of the behavior of the mechanism are derived, and the spring stiffnesses are matched. A theoretical method based on mechanical kinematics is presented, and a kinematic solution is realized through inverse kinematics. In addition, the locomotion of the mechanism, which is similar to that of the human foot, is simulated using ADAMS, and the effectiveness of the proposed theory and design method is verified by comparing the simulation output with the theoretically calculated results. Finally, a physical prototype manufactured using three-dimensional printing technology is used to experimentally verify the functional characteristics of the terrain-adaptive locomotion of the proposed mechanism. The results show that the proposed adaptive bioinspired foot mechanism exhibits good stability in an unstructured environment and can mimic the adaptive locomotion characteristics of the human foot on complex terrain remarkably well.
传统的机器人脚在复杂地形的自适应运动方面受到了广泛关注。作为替代方案，张拉整体结构具有可变形性、环境适应性和抗冲击性等基本特征。本文提出了一种基于张拉整体结构解决复杂地形自适应运动问题的方法，并展示了这种方法的有效性。本文基于人体脚部的运动机理和形态结构，通过仿生映射建立了四面体桅杆张拉整体结构的结构映射模型；通过仿生设计建立了自适应脚部机构模型。推导了机构行为的理论计算，并匹配了弹簧刚度。提出了一种基于力学运动学的理论方法，并通过运动学逆解实现了运动学解。此外，使用 ADAMS 对机构的运动进行了类似于人脚的模拟，并通过将模拟输出与理论计算结果进行比较，验证了所提出的理论和设计方法的有效性。最后，使用三维打印技术制造的物理原型对所提出的机构的地形自适应运动功能特性进行了实验验证。结果表明，所提出的自适应仿生脚机构在非结构化环境中具有良好的稳定性，能够很好地模拟人脚在复杂地形上的自适应运动特性。
