Enhancing the Vertical Mobility of a Robot Hexapod Using Microspines
This work addresses the need for versatile climbing robots that maintain efficient ground locomotion, though it is incremental as it builds on existing hexapod designs.
The researchers tackled the problem of climbing robots being slow on level ground by developing T-RHex, a hexapod robot with microspine feet, which increased its maximum climbing slope to 55 degrees and static hanging to 45 degrees without compromising ground mobility.
Modern climbing robots have risen to great heights, but mechanisms meant to scale cliffs often locomote slowly and over-cautiously on level ground. Here we introduce T-RHex, an iteration on the classic cockroach-inspired hexapod that has been augmented with microspine feet for climbing. T-RHex is a mechanically intelligent platform capable of efficient locomotion on ground with added climbing abilities. The legs integrate the compliance required for the microspines with the compliance required for locomotion in order to simplify the design and reduce mass. The microspine fabrication is simplified by embedding the spines during an additive manufacturing process. We present results that show that the addition of microspines to the T-RHex platform greatly increases the maximum slope that the robot is able to statically hang on (up to a 45 degree overhang) and ascend (up to 55 degrees) without sacrificing ground mobility.