Reliable Stair Climbing in the Simple Hexapod 'RHex'

Abstract

RHex is a hexapod with compliant legs and only six actuated degrees of freedom. Its ability to traverse highly fractured and unstable terrain, as well ascend and descend a particular flight of stairs has already been documented. In this paper, we describe an open loop controller that enables our small robot (Length: 51 cm, Width: 20 cm, Height: 12.7 cm. Leg length: 16 cm), to reliably climb a wide range of regular, full-size stairs with no operator input during stair climbing. Experimental data of energy efficiency in the form of specific resistance during stair climbing is given. The results presented in this paper are based on a new half circle leg design that implements a passive, effective leg length change.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2002
Accession Number
ADA438782

Entities

People

  • Douglas M. Campbell
  • E. Z. Moore
  • F. Grimminger
  • M. Buehler

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Algorithms
  • Climbing
  • Electric Power
  • Energy Consumption
  • Energy Efficiency
  • Engineering
  • Experimental Data
  • Explosive Ordnance Disposal
  • Flight
  • Geometry
  • Information Operations
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Reliability
  • Robotics
  • Robots
  • Trajectories

Readers

  • Mathematics or Statistics
  • Robotics and Automation.

Technology Areas

  • AI & ML
  • AI & ML - Autonomous Systems
  • AI & ML - Bayesian Inference
  • Autonomy