title: A locust-inspired miniature jumping robot.
abstract: Unmanned ground vehicles are mostly wheeled, tracked, or legged. These locomotion mechanisms have a limited ability to traverse rough terrain and obstacles that are higher than the robot's center of mass. In order to improve the mobility of small robots it is necessary to expand the variety of their motion gaits. Jumping is one of nature's solutions to the challenge of mobility in difficult terrain. The desert locust is the model for the presented bio-inspired design of a jumping mechanism for a small mobile robot. The basic mechanism is similar to that of the semilunar process in the hind legs of the locust, and is based on the cocking of a torsional spring by wrapping a tendon-like wire around the shaft of a miniature motor. In this study we present the jumping mechanism design, and the manufacturing and performance analysis of two demonstrator prototypes. The most advanced jumping robot demonstrator is power autonomous, weighs 23 gr, and is capable of jumping to a height of 3.35 m, covering a distance of 1.37 m.
authors.affiliation: Mechanical Engineering, Ort Braude College, Karmiel, Israel. Mechanical Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Valentin
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zaitsev
authors.forename: Omer
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Gvirsman
authors.forename: Uri
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ben Hanan
authors.forename: Avi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ayali
authors.forename: Gabor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kosa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D032701:Biomimetics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005121:Extremities / Q000502:physiology*; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D006110:Grasshoppers / Q000502:physiology*; D008904:Miniaturization; D008954:Models, Biological; D009038:Motion; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation*