Research on Hexapod Walking Bio-robot’s Workspace and Flexibility

Because of the natural selection and the long period evolution of various animals in the nature, the animals generates the strong adaptability to the surroundings on energy conversion, locomotion control, gesture adjustment, information processing and discerning direction. The animals’ structure and function is better than the man-made mechanical equipment’s. Therefore animals are becoming references of human’s advanced technology equipment .AT the 2004 IEEE Robotics and Bionics International Academic Conference, the experts pointed out :“The bio-robots imitating the animal body structure and function, will take the place of the traditional industry robots and become the trend in robot study field.” The definition of the bio-walking robot is a foot framework moving device which imitates the body structure and walking styles of multi-leg animals in the nature controlled by the computer [1]. According to the investigation, nearly half of the ground on the earth can not be reached by traditional wheel or pedrail vehicles, while many multi-leg animals can walk on it freely. Inspired by this phenomenon, many experts from different countries begin to study the technologies concerning to the walking bio-robots. Compared to others, the locomotion of the walking bio-robot has some unique capabilities which are not owned by other driving styles. For example, the walking bio-robot has many DOFs(degree of freedom), walking deftly like animals, therefore they have stronger adaptability to the complex changeable ground. Compared to the pedrail robot, the falling feet spots are discrete, so their feet tips can adjust the walking gesture within the reachable areas and choose the proper supporting pots, which makes the robot has the ability to avoid and overcome the obstacles[2]. Furthermore, the vibration can be isolated by the walking biorobot’s locomotion system independently, that is to say, it allows body moving track and feet moving track relieve coupling. Although the ground is uneven, the robot can walk smoothly. Among all kinds of the walking bio-robots, because of the hexapod walking biorobot’s advantages on structure and locomotion, people pay more attention on the hexapod walking bio-robot, which is becoming the key and hot point in robot study field. Figure 1 shows the new style hexapod walking bio-robot designed by the authors using the software UG. Due to its large number joints and the complex structure, how to make its body structure and legs ,realize the optimum design to extend its feet reachable area, improve its body agility, and fulfil the whole body’s optimum design becomes the key point. Because O pe n A cc es s D at ab as e w w w .ite ch on lin e. co m