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Equilibrium analysis of multi-limbs walking and climbing robots

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Abstract

The paper discusses the complex problem of assessing online the static equilibrium of statically-indeterminate climbing and walking robots (CLAWARs) with quasi-static locomotion. The method proposed is general and works for whatever number of legs and ropes operated by actuated winches connecting the robot to the environment. The configuration of the robot is assigned. First, the compliance of the robot body, of the legs and the compliances of the ground and the ropes are modeled as localized elasticities. The static equilibrium problem of the resulting model is statically-determinate under the hypothesis that the foot and rope points (where the ropes are fixed to the robot body) are joined to the ground by bilateral constraints. Since these constraints are unilateral (the feet are contact points and can detach from the ground, and the ropes can become slack), it is necessary to apply an iterative solving procedure in order to solve the static equilibrium problem. The method presented in the paper is a fast and effective alternative to nonlinear analysis of a finite element model of the robot at any assigned configuration. As an example, we consider the case of the heavy-duty CLAWAR Roboclimber.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. PMAR Robot Design Research Group, University of Genova, Via all’Opera 15A, 16145, Genoa, Italy

    Matteo Zoppi & Rezia Molfino

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  1. Matteo Zoppi
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  2. Rezia Molfino
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Correspondence to Matteo Zoppi.

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Zoppi, M., Molfino, R. Equilibrium analysis of multi-limbs walking and climbing robots. Auton Robot 21, 199–210 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10514-006-7275-9

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