Collaborative Research: Dynamics of Running on Variable Inclines

合作研究：在可变斜坡上跑步的动力学

• 批准号: 0826149
• 负责人: Robert Full
• 金额: $ 7.39万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-09-01 至 2011-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0826149&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Dynamics; Running; Variable

The ability to develop legged robots that can effectively run over flat, inclined, uneven and deformable surfaces is critical to a wide range of civilian (e.g., search and rescue) and military (e.g., reconnaissance, mine detection) applications. This task has proven particularly problematic to traditional control strategies, yet many animals, unlike their synthetic counterparts, are able to transcend complex environments such as jungles, caves, deserts, buildings, and piles of rubble with remarkable ease. Despite their miniscule size, insects can function in almost any environment by means of their ability to climb, crawl, or run as the situation demands. Although recent progress has been made in the development of bio-inspired robots capable of locomotion over uneven ground, and others that can (slowly) climb sheer surfaces, no legged machines currently exist that can dynamically operate in a combination of vertical and horizontal regimes. The recent discovery that rapidly climbing cockroaches and geckos utilize their legs to actively pull the body toward the feet, rather than pushing the body away as in running, has inspired a new dynamic model for vertical running and the construction of the first dynamic climbing robot. The salient feature of this climbing model and robot is the intentional utilization of large lateral pulling forces when rapidly climbing. Since these pulling motions observed experimentally do not appear to provide an obvious energetic advantage, we hypothesize that this type of side to side climbing is driven primarily by stability considerations. This project pursues an integrated study of insect biomechanics, dynamic modeling, and robotic synthesis to determine the importance and proper utilization of lateral oscillations in running and climbing over various degrees of incline. The study seeks to answer these questions not only to provide insight into animal biomechanics, but also to produce guiding principles that can be utilized to develop the next generation of dynamic legged robots. In particular we aim to understand the connection between neuromuscular control strategies in insects and functional performance in changing environments (i.e. slope and substrate), develop reduced order models to determine how lateral motion pattern contribute to improved stability and locomotion performance, and develop a novel robotic test platform to empirically test the predictions of the bio-inspired locomotion models and provide insight into how lateral dynamics can be explicitly utilized to improve the mobility of legged robots over varying terrain and substrates.

开发能够有效地在平坦、倾斜、不平坦和可变形的表面上运行的腿式机器人的能力对于广泛的民用（例如，搜索和救援）和军事（例如，侦察、地雷探测）应用。事实证明，这项任务对传统的控制策略来说特别困难，但与合成动物不同，许多动物能够轻松地超越复杂的环境，如丛林、洞穴、沙漠、建筑物和瓦砾堆。尽管昆虫的体型很小，但它们几乎可以在任何环境中发挥作用，因为它们能够根据情况需要攀爬，爬行或奔跑。虽然最近在开发能够在不平坦地面上运动的生物启发机器人以及能够（缓慢地）爬上陡峭表面的其他机器人方面取得了进展，但是目前不存在能够在垂直和水平状态的组合中动态操作的腿式机器。 最近发现，快速攀爬的蟑螂和壁虎利用它们的腿主动地将身体拉向脚，而不是像跑步那样将身体推开，这激发了一种新的垂直跑步动力学模型和第一个动态攀爬机器人的构建。该攀爬模型和机器人的显著特点是在快速攀爬时有意利用大的横向拉力。由于实验观察到的这些拉动运动似乎并没有提供明显的能量优势，我们假设这种类型的侧边攀爬主要是由稳定性考虑驱动的。本计画将昆虫生物力学、动态模型与机器人合成进行整合研究，以确定侧向振动在不同坡度的奔跑与攀爬中的重要性与正确利用。该研究旨在回答这些问题，不仅提供对动物生物力学的见解，而且还产生可用于开发下一代动态腿式机器人的指导原则。 特别是，我们的目标是了解昆虫的神经肌肉控制策略和不断变化的环境中的功能表现之间的联系（即坡度和基底），开发降阶模型以确定横向运动模式如何有助于改善稳定性和运动性能，并开发一种新的机器人测试平台，以经验性地测试生物-启发性的运动模型，并深入了解如何明确利用横向动力学来提高腿式机器人在不同地形和基底上的移动性。