Flying snake-inspired robot using flexible linear motors

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K22398
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0301:Mechanics of materials, production engineering, design engineering, fluid engineering, thermal engineering, mechanical dynamics, robotics, aerospace engineering, marine and maritime engineering, and related fields
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Kanada Ayato 九州大学, 工学研究院, 助教 (60879972)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-09-11 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 連続体ロボット / トビヘビ / ソフトアクチュエータ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Living organisms with elongated bodies can stretch, twist, and flatten their bodies for optimizing their workspace and improving their adaptability to the environment. To demonstrate the potential of such soft deformations, we propose a four degree of freedom (DoF) continuum robot inspired by a flying snake that glides by flattening its elongated body. The proposed robot has a flexible, extensible, and flattenable body and untethered actuation systems. The body flattening mechanism can deform the width of the robot body to a large extent (from 55mm to 165mm) and use different contact interactions depending on the environment. We test three contact interactions, including passive friction, gripping, and radial expansion, and successfully move the robot on a flat surface, thin wall, and confined space. We develop a model based on multibody dynamics to predict the large deformation of the flattened continuum body, which we verify in the experiment.

Free Research Field

ソフトロボティクス

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では、ヘビ型（連続体）ロボットに胴体扁平化機構を取り入れることで、様々な環境において移動性が向上することを実証した。本研究の成果は、体の形を自在に変化させることで、狭い隙間に潜り込んだり障害物を踏破できるヘビ型ロボットの実現に期待できる。