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Development of the sub-10 cm, sub-100 g jumping–crawling robot

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Abstract

The accessible environment and locomotion performance of a robot are governed by the scale of the robot. The operating time and speed can be increased as the scale of the robot increases. However, the size of the robot does limit the accessible environment: the robot cannot pass through a space smaller than its size. Therefore, to explore an environment containing gaps, holes, and crevices, a small-scale robot is required. In this paper, we propose a sub-10 cm, sub-100 g scale jumping–crawling robot. The proposed robot consists of crawling, jumping, and self-righting mechanisms. The combination of crawling and jumping allowed the robot to overcome obstacles of various sizes. To reduce the weight and size of the robot, we employed a smart composite microstructures (SCM) design method and utilized a shape memory alloy (SMA) actuator. All the mechanisms and electronic components were compactly integrated into a single robot. The robot can crawl with the maximum speed of 3.94 cm/s (0.4 BL/s), and jump 19 cm which is 2.2 times its body height.

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Acknowledgements

This research is performed based on the cooperation with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration and Defense Rapid Acquisition Technology Research Institute’s Critical Technology R &D program (No. UC190002D).

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Author notes

  1. Sojung Yim and Sang-Min Baek have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea

    Sojung Yim, Sang-Min Baek, Pilwoo Lee, Soo-Hwan Chae, Jongeun Lee & Kyu-Jin Cho

  2. LIG NEX1, Unmanned Ground Systems, Gyeonggi-do, 13488, Republic of Korea

    Seok-Haeng Huh

  3. Department of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, SeoulTech, Seoul, 01811, Republic of Korea

    Gwang-Pil Jung

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  1. Sojung Yim
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Yim, S., Baek, SM., Lee, P. et al. Development of the sub-10 cm, sub-100 g jumping–crawling robot. Intel Serv Robotics 17, 19–32 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11370-023-00497-z

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