In nature, small animals or insects use multiple locomotion methods to efficiently travel in difficult environments. Inspired by the multi-modal locomotion ability found in animals, we design a miniature robot that can jump, run, and perform aerial maneuvering. Specifically, this robot can use wheeled locomotion to run on flat ground. Encountering a large obstacle, it can jump up to overcome the obstacle.

After leaping into the air, the robot can control its body angle using its tail for aerial maneuvering. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first miniature (maximum size 7.5 centimeters) and lightweight (26.5 grams) robot that having all the three capabilities. Furthermore, this robot is equipped with on-board energy, sensing, control, and wireless communication capabilities, which enables the tetherless or autonomous operation. It has many applications ranging from search and rescue, military surveillance, and environmental monitoring.

ARTICLE by Evan Ackerman

We first met Jianguo Zhao’s jumping robot at ICRA 2011. We were impressed because of how tiny it was, but also because it could change direction, self-right, and jump, all using just one single motor and a clever arrangement of gears. A new upgrade (inspired by research from UC Berkely) adds a tail to the mix, giving this little robot the ability to orient itself in midair. Oh, and it can also run, because why not.

Adding a tail also involved adding an extra motor to the robot, but there was no way that the designers could tolerate such inefficiency. So, the tail motor and gear can team up with a gear on the jumping motor to give the robot the ability to move horizontally along the ground. My guess is that the next iteration of this robot that we see will (somehow) have that motor enabling three abilities instead of just two.

The total weight of the robot is still just 26 grams, and it’s only 7.5 centimeters tall. It can jump over 80 centimeters up (with a 75 degree takeoff angle), and while “running,” it can reach speeds of nearly 4 cm/s. In addition, the robot is equipped with on-board sensors, and of course it can be controlled wirelessly or made fully autonomous, and the designers speculate that it might be appropriate for applications like search and rescue, military surveillance, and environmental monitoring.

Officially, this research will be presented at IROS 2013 in Toyko this November, but a pre-print edition of the full paper is already available below…

Controlling Aerial Maneuvering of a Miniature Jumping Robot Using Its Tail

Download PDF 

Links:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-hardware/tiny-jumping-robot-finds-room-for-a-tail
Video Link: http://youtu.be/oEnQQJC5Lxc

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Researchers at Berkeley’s Biomimetic Millisystems Lab have been able to create this “sprawl tuned autonomous robot” AKA STAR using 3D printed pieces. David Zarrouk, Andrew Pullin, Nick Kohut, and Ronald Fearing created the robot out of a number of simple, easily replaceable and biomimetic parts.

The robot can move up to 5.2 meters per second and it is especially quick on smooth surfaces. A simple control board and simple motors control the star-shaped wheels and collapsible arms.

The team aims to make it a sort of field-repairable search and rescue bot. Because you can print parts for it quickly using almost any 3D printer and it weighs only a few grams, you can carry a few of them and not worry if they break on transport. You can read a bit more about the robot here or you can just sleep with one eye open in hopes of catching this little thing before it catches you.

About the Project

This movie shows some unique feature of STAR (Sprawl Tuned Autonomous Robot). The biomimetic robot is 3D printed and controls its sprawl angle control which allows him to perform many maneuvers to overcome obstacles. In the movie the robot sprawls down and goes under a door then sprawls up.

It can run at all speeds up to 5.2m/s (43 body lengths per second) on smooth surfaces while steering is on (i.e. it can be controlled to run in straight line or turn). The legs slide to the side in order to reduce collisions with the ground which allow for better stability and steering control.

The robot was designed by:

David Zarrouk, Andrew Pullin, Nick Kohut and Ronald Fearing at the Biomimetic Millisystems Lab, UC Berkeley. (Reference: ICRA 2013)

This is the third version of our robot, we made some mechanical improvements. We added fiber reinforced rods to reduce collision damage at high speeds.

Resources:

http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/15/watch-this-creepy-little-robot-that-can-sneak-under-your-door/
Video Link – http://youtu.be/vXVRCpDLSHI

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This partially 3D-printed prototype can be produced for less than $1,000, much less than commercial utility line robots.

You only need to experience another blackout for a reminder of the importance of power grid maintenance. Robots that crawl along and inspect power lines could save utilities a bundle in preventive checks.  We’ve seen a few designs for machines that can take on this dangerous and tricky job, such as Hydro-Quebec’s LineScout, but they can still cost tens of thousands of dollars. Engineers at the University of California at San Diego have developed a cheap and fast wire-crawling inspection robot called the SkySweeper. Made of off-the-shelf electronics and 3D-printed parts , the basic bot can be produced for less than $1,000.

The V-shaped bot hangs from a wire and works around a spring-elastic elbow joint. It moves along like an upside-down inchworm as its cable-hugging clamps open and close. It’s a basic prototype with a lithium-polymer battery and an Arduino controller, yet it can be augmented with cameras for inspection or induction coils to grab power from the line. That could let it stay aloft on the grid for months at a time.

If it faces a support bracket or other obstacle along the cable, SkySweeper can do a back flip to get past it. “Current line inspection robots are large, complex, and expensive,” Nick Morozovsky, a UCSD mechanical engineering grad student who designed the robot, said in a release. “Utility companies may also use manned or unmanned helicopters equipped with infrared imaging to inspect lines. This is much simpler.” Morozovsky will present the robot at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2013) in November in Tokyo, and also has it as an entry in the Road to Maker Faire Challenge.

Mechanical engineers at the University of California, San Diego invented a robot designed to scoot along utility lines, searching for damage and other problems that require repairs. Made of off-the-shelf electronics and plastic parts printed on an inexpensive 3D printer, the SkySweeper prototype could be scaled up for less than $1,000, making it significantly more economical than the two models of robots currently used to inspect power lines.

“Current line inspection robots are large, complex, and expensive. Utility companies may also use manned or unmanned helicopters equipped with infrared imaging to inspect lines,” said Nick Morozovsky, a graduate student in mechanical engineering at UC San Diego, who designed the robot. “This is much simpler.”

About The SkySweeper Project

By: Nick Morozovsky, Roboticist
Description:  SkySweeper is designed to move along rope or cable like no other robot. Existing robots that inspect power lines are large, slow, and expensive. SkySweeper is small, fast, and almost all parts of the robot are 3D printed or available cheaply off-the-shelf.

Hobby servos move the clamps on either end to one of three positions: either open, partially closed such that the clamp can roll along the cable, or fully closed such that the clamp can only pivot on the cable. A motor at the “elbow” joint of the robot is connected to a spring, together the motor and spring are called a Series Elastic Actuator (SEA), which can both change the angle between the links and store potential energy in the spring when both clamps are locked on the cable.

Sensors measure the angle between the links, how much energy is stored in the spring, and if a cable is within reach of each clamp. The robot is controlled with a finite state machine controller programmed as a switch structure on an Arduino Uno. A lithium polymer battery powers the motors, sensors, and Arduino.

SkySweeper can move along cable in multiple different ways. It can “inchworm” along by opening and closing its links and controlling which clamp is rolling or only pivoting. If SkySweeper needs to avoid an obstacle on the cable, like a support holding onto the cable, it can do a backflip to get past the obstacle, it can even keep on backflipping along the cable!

Morozovsky, who works in the lab of Professor Thomas Bewley at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego, will introduce the robot at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, also known as IROS 2013, from Nov. 3 to 8 in Tokyo. He will also present a paper, titled “A Low Degrees of Freedom, Dynamic High Wire Robot,” at the conference.

Resource Links:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57597264-1/low-cost-skysweeper-inspection-robot-scoots-along-power-lines/

http://www.jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/news/news_releases/release.sfe?id=1352

http://review.wizehive.com/voting/view/makermedia2013/15849/1387186/0

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Main Components:
1) Axon Microcontroller
2) 6V 3200mAh Re/ch. Battery
3) 1 Infrared Sensor
4) 2 Light Sensors
5) 21 Hitec Servos
6) Aluminium Brackets

Functions:
1) Walk on four legs
2) Pass through a gap of minimum 8cm
3) Roll up a ramp up to 45º slope
4) Climb a height up to 12 cm
5) Crawl on irregular surfaces

Practical Applications:
1) Military missions
2) Exploration of planets
3) Rescue operations

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