RI: Small: Theory and Experiments with Tumbling Robots

该项目围绕翻滚，这是机器人运动的一个令人兴奋的领域，与传统方法相比，它利用地面与身体的相互作用在较小的尺度上实现高流动性。 此外，产生这种运动所需的硬件复杂度非常低。 在这方面，翻滚可以被看作是一种极简主义的方法，生产微型移动的机器人能够穿越复杂和动态的地形。 然而，由于翻滚的性质，增加的机动性是以增加控制复杂性为代价的。 翻滚机器人的极简主义本质通常导致欠驱动系统表现出非完整约束，这大大复杂的运动规划问题。 此外，翻滚通常涉及时变支撑和与地面的滑动接触。 最终，这项研究认为翻滚作为一个基本上未开发的，但有前途的研究领域。 这项工作解决了翻滚运动的复杂性。具体来说，我们正在开发一般的规划算法翻滚机器人，并确定重要的设计特点，导致简化控制翻滚机器人。 将举办研讨会和讲习班，使从业人员、最终用户、研究人员和决策者聚集在一起，以产生最大的影响。通过网络传播算法和快速原型/模拟工具，确保该项目的成果能够传播到所有社区。在这个项目中培训的学生参加美国FIRST比赛，高中生暑期辅导计划，机器人暑期学校和其他推广计划。

This project revolves around tumbling which is an exciting area of robotic locomotion that takes advantage of ground-body interactions to achieve high mobility on smaller scales when compared to conventional methods. Additionally, the required hardware complexity to produce such locomotion is very low. In this respect, tumbling can be viewed as a minimalistic approach to producing miniature mobile robots capable of traversing complex and dynamic terrains. Due to the nature of tumbling however, the added mobility comes at the price of increased control complexity. The minimalistic nature of tumbling robots generally results in underactuated systems that exhibit nonholonomic constraints which greatly complicate the motion planning problem. Additionally, tumbling often involves time-varying supports and sliding contacts with the ground. Ultimately, this research views tumbling as a largely unexplored yet promising area of research. This work addresses the intricacies of tumbling locomotion. Specifically, we are developing general planning algorithms for tumbling robots and identify important design characteristics of tumbling robots that lead to simplified control. Seminars and workshops to bring together practitioners, end-users, researchers, and policy makers will be organized to have the maximal impact. Web-based dissemination of the algorithms and rapid prototyping/simulation tools ensure that the results of this project reach all communities. Students trained in this project participate in the US FIRST competitions, summer mentoring programs for high school students, summer schools in robotics, and other outreach programs.