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摘要
This is the second part of a comprehensive study on the locomotion characteristics of a metameric earthworm-like robot. Three major contributions from the first part paper are used as the foundations of this investigation: (a) the novel analytical models describing the kinematic and dynamic characteristics of the robot locomotion, (b) a gait generation algorithm based on the mechanism of retrograde peristalsis wave, and (c) the discovery of critical conditions for actuator-overload and anchor-slippage. This paper focuses on the issues of gait analysis and its experimental verification. Analysis on the kinematic model attains the optimal gait that corresponds to the maximum ideal average speed. However in practical applications, such ideal speed might not be achievable due to actuator overload and anchor slippage. Therefore, the dynamic model is exercised to survey the relationship between gait designs and the occurrence of the overload and slippage, and this survey identifies five types of locomotion with distinct dynamic characteristics. Then, this research branches out to investigate two important topics. The first topic is to understand how changes in the gait and physical parameters, such as the number of robot segments and the friction coefficients, affect the robot's locomotion behavior. The second topic is to optimize the gait designs in consideration of the effects from actuator overload and anchor slippage, such that the maximum achievable average speed can be obtained for different types of locomotion. The observations from these two topics of investigation reveal many insights regarding the physics of the metameric earthworm-like robot locomotion and provide comprehensive guidelines for the robot design and control. Finally, an eight-segment earthworm-like robot prototype is fabricated to experimentally verify the gait analysis, especially the relationship among gait design, average speed, and the occurrence of anchor slippage.
- 出版日期2015-10
- 单位同济大学
