Animals as models for robot mobility and autonomy: Crawling, walking, running, climbing and flying
Event details
| Date | 31.05.2010 |
| Hour | 14:15 |
| Speaker | Prof. Roger Quinn, Case Western Reserve University |
| Location |
GCA330
|
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Fundamental principles of cockroach locomotion are applied using existing technologies. Robots called WhegsTM have mechanical designs that passively solve lower level motor control problems and their subsequent agility makes them suitable for many applications in the near term. WhegsTM can climb barriers much taller than their leg lengths. Small robots called Mini- WhegsTM can run rapidly over relatively large obstacles and even jump up stairs. A Mini- WhegsTM with specially designed legs and animal inspired adhesive feet can climb vertical glass walls. It places each of its adhesive feet on the wall, propels itself through the stance phase, and peals its feet from the wall mimicking insect foot motion. Mini- WhegsTM has also been integrated with a micro air vehicle to form MALV (micro air and land vehicle). A new robot called “DIGbot” uses a biologically inspired concept called Distributed Inward Gripping (DIG) to walk inverted.
Animals that have soft bodies can very effectively locomote and manipulate materials in their environment. For example, worms, leeches and slugs are all capable of moving through complex environments. The Chiel-Quinn groups have developed peristaltic robots and a soft gripper device. The peristaltic robots are hollow to allow fluid to pass through them. We have also developed a soft gripper device consisting of a series of 4 rings, each of which is constructed from four McKibben actuators, arranged in parallel to form a hollow lumen.
Practical information
- General public
- Free