Development and Motion Control of the Robot which Jumps and Moves About.

Abstract

A kangaroo-type jumping and moving robot has been developed and investigated experimentally. The robot uses double pneumatic cylinders pivoted on both sides of its body for jumping. In order to jump, the initial position or attitude of the robot must be set, for which double DC servomotors installed on the body are utilized. The PID feedback control and sequential control are applied for setting the attitude by the motors and for the jumping motion by the cylinders, respectively. The conolusions derived from this experiment are (1) the pneumatic cylinder is very advantageous for jumping because it can provide quick higher jumps than other actuators, (2) the maximum jumping height of the robot in the vertical direction is over 500mm at the supplied air pressure of 6.0kgf/cm2, and (3) the time interval between consecutive jumps and locomotion of the robot is less than 4 seonds.