Indoor locomotion experiments of a spherical mobile robot based on a tensegrity structure with curved compressed members

Abstract

This work presents theoretical and experimental investigations on an untethered rolling tensegrity robot. Previous research has shown, that rolling locomotion of compliant tensegrity robots can be realized without change of their shape, by using only internal mass shifting. The use of simple tensegrity structures, based on curved compressed members enables pure rolling locomotion in contrast to the most known prototypes of this kind. Therefore, theoretical and experimental investigations of an untethered locomotion system based on a simple tensegrity structure, consisting of two disconnected compressed curved members connected to a continuous net of twelve prestressed tensioned members with pronounced elasticity, are considered. Planar locomotion is induced by the movement of only two drive units as internal masses along the curved compressed members. Theoretical considerations show the influence of the geometrical system parameters on the movement behavior of the system. With the help of experimental investigations, by using motion-capturing technique, main properties of the locomotion performance of a prototype are discussed.