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Development of an Amphibious Turtle-Inspired Spherical Mother Robot
Authors:Liwei Shi  Shuxiang Guo  Shilian Mao  Chunfeng Yue  Maoxun Li  Kinji Asaka
Institution:[1]School of Life Science, Beo'ing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, P. R. China [2]Faculty of Engineering, Kagawa University, 2217-20 Hayashi-cho, Takamatsu, Kagawa 761-0396, Japan [3]Graduate School of Engineering, Kagawa University, 2217-20 Hayashi-cho, Takamatsu, Kagawa 761-0396, Japan [4]Kansai Research Institute, AIST, 1-8-31 Midorigaoka, Ikeda, Osaka 563-8577, Japan
Abstract:Robots play an important role in underwater monitoring and recovery operations, such as pollution detection, submarine sampling and data collection, video mapping, and object recovery in dangerous places. However, regular-sized robots may not be suitable for applications in some restricted underwater environments. Accordingly, in previous research we designed several novel types of bio-inspired microrobots using Ionic Polymer Metal Composite (IPMC) and Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) actuators. These microrobots possess some attributes of compact structure, multi-functionality, flexibility, and precise positioning. However, they lack the attributes of long endurance, stable high speed, and large load capacity necessary for real-world applications. To overcome these disadvantages, we proposed a mother-son robot system, composed of several microrobots as sons and a newly designed amphibious spherical robot as the mother. Inspired by amphibious turtles, the mother robot was designed with a spherical body and four legs with two Degrees of Freedom (DOF). It is actuated by four vectored water-jet propellers and ten servomotors, and it is capable of walking on land and cruising underwater. We analysed the mother robot's walking and underwater cruising mechanisms, constructed a prototype, and carried out a series of experiments to evaluate its amphibious motions. Good motion performance was observed in the experiments.
Keywords:amphibious robot  biomimetic underwater robot  mother-son robot system  spherical robot  vectored water-jet propeller
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