An efficient locomotion strategy for six-strut tensegrity robots

Abstract

Tensegrity is a balanced mechanical structure composed of a set of rigid members that are connected by elastic tensile members. Tensegrity-like robots have received significant attention for its light-weight, robustness and deployability. However, the locomotion control of a tensegrity robot is still a challenging problem due to the complex nonlinear coupling among the struts and cables. In this paper, a straightforward, easy to implement compare-and-search based strategy for six-strut tensegrity robot is proposed to achieve continuous rolling toward given targets without developing step-wise locomotion policies for different adjacent relationship separately. To validate the proposed strategy, simulation experiments have been performed. Results show that the strategy works well on rough terrains and it is robust to external disturbances. In particular, the proposed strategy allows the robot to escape from the trap by jumping in certain situations. A physical prototype robot is also built based on the proposed strategy.