Influence of hexapod robot foot shape on sinking considering multibody dynamics
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DOI 10.1007/s12206-020-0833-9
Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 34 (9) 2020 Original Article DOI 10.1007/s12206-020-0833-9 Keywords: · Contact force · Foot section shape · Multibody dynamics · Hexapod robot · Sinking in soft soil
Influence of hexapod robot foot shape on sinking considering multibody dynamics Gang He, Zhaoyuan Cao, Qian Li, Denglin Zhu and Ji Aimin College of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Hohai University, 200 Jinling, Changzhou 213022, China
Abstract Correspondence to: Qian Li [email protected]
Citation: He, G., Cao, Z., Li, Q., Zhu, D., Aimin, J. (2020). Influence of hexapod robot foot shape on sinking considering multibody dynamics. Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology 34 (9) (2020) 3823~3831. http://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-020-0833-9
Hexapod robots have attracted attention for their excellent terrain adaptabilities. When a robot walks on soft soil, dynamic subsidence and slippage greatly reduce its walking performance. The influence of foot’s shape is usually ignored or simply studied without considering the multibody dynamics of the robot. This study is focused on the influence of the foot shape on the walking performance of a robot by coupling the sinkage with multibody dynamics. A composite contact model based on the Bekker, spring-damping, and Janosi– Hanamoto models was used to model the interaction of the robot and soft soil. Non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS) surface and mesh were used to describe the geometries of foot and soft soil, respectively. The influences of three foot shapes on the sinkage and walking stability of the robot were analyzed by comparsion. The improved X-shaped foot reduced the robot’s sinkage and improved its walking stability.
Received September 16th, 2019 Revised
May 8th, 2020
Accepted June 27th, 2020
1. Introduction
† Recommended by Editor Ja Choon Koo
Hexapod robots exhibit better terrain adaptabilities than wheeled robots, and thus, they have been widely used in complex field environments [1]. However, the phenomena of sinking and slipping decrease the walking performance of a robot when it works on soft soil [2]. The areas and shapes of the robot feet significantly influence its sinking properties. There have been a few studies focused on the shape design of robot feet with experiments and numerical simulations. However, most of these studies involved static sinking [3, 4]. Although there have many investigations concentrating on the kinematics and dynamics of robots, most of them assumed the robot walking on hard ground, and there is no sinking under this condition [5, 6]. When a hexapod robot walks on soft soil, complex coupling and interactions occur between the gait and sinking of the robot. To thoroughly investigate the influence of foot shape on the walking performance, the coupling of robot’s sinking and dynamic walking should be taken into account. It is the important to establish a pressure–sinkage relationship for dynamic sinking analysis based on a terramechanics model. The Bekker model is typically used in t
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