From the Cover: Sensitive dependence of the motion of a legged robot on granular media.

ABSTRACT: Legged locomotion on flowing ground (e.g., granular media) is unlike locomotion on hard ground because feet experience both solid- and fluid-like forces during surface penetration. Recent bioinspired legged robots display speed relative to body size on hard ground comparable with high-performing organisms like cockroaches but suffer significant performance loss on flowing materials like sand. In laboratory experiments, we study the performance (speed) of a small (2.3 kg) 6-legged robot, SandBot, as it runs on a bed of granular media (1-mm poppy seeds). For an alternating tripod gait on the granular bed, standard gait control parameters achieve speeds at best 2 orders of magnitude smaller than the 2 body lengths/s (approximately 60 cm/s) for motion on hard ground. However, empirical adjustm

SUBMITTER: Li C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2637910 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature