Meeting Abstract

P3.163  Sunday, Jan. 6  Designing bio-inspired tailed robots to turn using bendable backs. GUDENUS, V.*; LIBBY, T.; HALDANE, D.W.; FULL, R.J.; UAS Technikum-Wien; Univ. of California, Berkeley; Univ. of California, Berkeley; Univ. of California, Berkeley viktor.gudenus@chello.at

Typically, rapid-running, agile, legged robots have possessed rigid, single-segment bodies. Slower legged robots have employed modular bodies, but these segments have rarely been integrated into dynamic maneuvers. Recent efforts mimicking quadrupeds, such as the cheetah, have begun to include back bending in the sagittal plane. Our discoveries of lizards using tail motion in mid-air maneuvers that include righting and leaping have demonstrated the advantage of using the inertia of movable segments. Our recent research on the contribution of back and tail movement in the horizontal plane during the rapid escape maneuvers of lizards (Agama agama) has revealed the importance of body shape change, as well as the necessity of synchronization with leg-ground impulses. To this end, we began construction of a two-segment torso for a legged robot with an attached tail. We took advantage of an effective manufacturing process termed Smart Composite Microstructures (SCM) to fabricate the novel body that could bend laterally. The robot, with 6 degrees of freedom and two motors, coordinates tail motion, body bending and rear limb movements while allowing separate control of front limbs. When front and hind limbs are in phase, this arrangement allows the robot to turn rapidly by bending and pivoting about the rear feet. Reversing phase enables forward running. We contend that the coordination of body bending, tail curling and leg impulse forces will enhance the rate of rotation of turning in the horizontal plane and increase the controllability of terrestrial maneuvers in legged robots.