ISSN:
1573-7527
Keywords:
locomotion
;
symmetry
;
legged robot
;
rough terrain
;
fault tolerance
;
mobility
;
modularity
;
high degree of freedom
;
redundancy
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Computer Science
,
Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Production Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, Traffic Engineering, Precision Mechanics
Notes:
Abstract We describe a new class of spherically symmetric, high degree of freedom robots called “platonic beasts.” A robot in this family is kinematically equivalent to a symmetric polyhedron, such as one of the Platonic solids, with identical multi-purpose limbs attached to its vertices. The symmetry and regularity of the design have several advantages including robustness to toppling, novel gaits such as therolling gait, and fault tolerance. We describe the design and programming of a prototype platonic beast robot that we have built in our lab. The robot has four limbs, each with three degrees of freedom, and is controlled by a network of four embedded 32-bit microcontrollers. We also discuss the general features of these robots, including locomotion using the rolling gait and the implications of its novel features.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00710856
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