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Development of a small and lightweight myriapod robot using passive dynamics

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Abstract

Typical myriapod robots were originally large and heavy for actuating numerous joints. Therefore, it is difficult for these robots to synthesise aspects of intelligence, such as adaptability of Myriapoda. The aim of this study is to develop a light, simple, and adaptive myriapod robot by implementing passive dynamics. In the paper, we develop a prototype of the myriapod robot, the i-CentiPot P (implicit brain centipede robot prototype) based on passive dynamics to validate its fundamental mechanism. The i-CentiPot P is lightweight (weight of approximately 1.5 kg) and small (length, width, and height of 1.2 m, 20 cm, and 5 cm). The experimental results showed that the i-CentiPot P could climb over or avoid some obstacles autonomously. The i-CentiPot P did not have active torso joints. Nevertheless, we observed that torso undulation emerged. This result indicates that interaction between the legs, the flexible and passive torso, and the ground provides the spontaneous undulation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Nos. 26420215 and 17K06281.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Okayama University of Science, 1-1 Ridai-cho, Kita-ku, Okayama, Japan

    Tetsuya Kinugasa, Ryota Hayashi, Naoki Miyamoto & Koji Yoshida

  2. Osaka University, 2-1, Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Koichi Osuka

Authors
  1. Tetsuya Kinugasa
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  2. Koichi Osuka
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  3. Ryota Hayashi
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  4. Naoki Miyamoto
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  5. Koji Yoshida
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tetsuya Kinugasa.

Additional information

This work was presented in part at the 22nd International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Beppu, Oita, January 19–21, 2017.

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Kinugasa, T., Osuka, K., Hayashi, R. et al. Development of a small and lightweight myriapod robot using passive dynamics. Artif Life Robotics 22, 429–434 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10015-017-0378-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10015-017-0378-x

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