Design and Analysis of Gecko-like Robot  

作　　者：MENG Cai WANG Tianmiao GUAN Shengguo ZHANG Long WANG Jing LI Xiaohu 

机构地区：[1]School of Astronautics, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China [2]School of Mechanical Engineering andAutomation, Reihang University, Beijing 100191, China [3]School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing University of Science and Technology, Beijing 100083, China

出　　处：《Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering》2011年第2期224-236,共13页中国机械工程学报（英文版）

基　　金：supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.60535020);National Natural Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scholars of China(Grant No.60525314)

摘　　要：Gecko-like robot（Geckobot）,an important branch of bionic robotics,is a robot that simulates gecko＇s capacity to climb walls and ceilings.The work environment of the traditional wall-climbing robot is greatly limited as the moving structure and adsorption principle of the robot have nothing to do with the real gecko.However,the adsorption principle and moving mode of the real gecko can provide a new way to break through the restrictions of the traditional wall-climbing robot.Inspired by the moving mechanism of geckos, this paper develops the Geckobot with motile body.Two types of Geckobots are addressed：one with compliant flat bar as the body,and the other with prismatic joint as the body.The compliant body not only resembles the moving mode of the real gecko body,but also simplifies the Geckobot＇s structure.The prismatic joint body is used to adapt the change of body length in ground-to-wall transition. The gait planning on the plane and the transition between perpendicular intersectional planes is discussed,with an emphasis on the analysis of the kinematics degree of freedom（DOF） and body posture.Central pattern generator（CPG） neural network is realized in LabVIEW and utilized to control Geckobot＇s movement.The CPG scheme in Lab VIEW is given,and how CPG is used to control Geckobot to turn or move forward is explored.Simulations are conducted in ADAMS to verify the feasibility of the structure design and gait planning and to acquire some parameters for practical Geckobot development.The experiment with Geckobot-Ⅰand Geckobot-Ⅱon their crawling capacity on the plane and the ground-to-wall transition finds that the robot can complete the crawling movement and ground-to-wall transition,verifying the feasibility of the structure design,gait planning and the CPG motion control.The Geckobot structure design approach,gait planning and the CPG motion control presented would be useful for the research on wall-climbing robots.Gecko-like robot（Geckobot）,an important branch of bionic robotics,is a robot that simulates gecko＇s capacity to climb walls and ceilings.The work environment of the traditional wall-climbing robot is greatly limited as the moving structure and adsorption principle of the robot have nothing to do with the real gecko.However,the adsorption principle and moving mode of the real gecko can provide a new way to break through the restrictions of the traditional wall-climbing robot.Inspired by the moving mechanism of geckos, this paper develops the Geckobot with motile body.Two types of Geckobots are addressed：one with compliant flat bar as the body,and the other with prismatic joint as the body.The compliant body not only resembles the moving mode of the real gecko body,but also simplifies the Geckobot＇s structure.The prismatic joint body is used to adapt the change of body length in ground-to-wall transition. The gait planning on the plane and the transition between perpendicular intersectional planes is discussed,with an emphasis on the analysis of the kinematics degree of freedom（DOF） and body posture.Central pattern generator（CPG） neural network is realized in LabVIEW and utilized to control Geckobot＇s movement.The CPG scheme in Lab VIEW is given,and how CPG is used to control Geckobot to turn or move forward is explored.Simulations are conducted in ADAMS to verify the feasibility of the structure design and gait planning and to acquire some parameters for practical Geckobot development.The experiment with Geckobot-Ⅰand Geckobot-Ⅱon their crawling capacity on the plane and the ground-to-wall transition finds that the robot can complete the crawling movement and ground-to-wall transition,verifying the feasibility of the structure design,gait planning and the CPG motion control.The Geckobot structure design approach,gait planning and the CPG motion control presented would be useful for the research on wall-climbing robots.

关 键 词：gecko-like robot structure design gait planning ground-to-wall transition central pattern generator 

分 类 号：TP242[自动化与计算机技术—检测技术与自动化装置] TS186.3[自动化与计算机技术—控制科学与工程]