Realization of rolling locomotion by a wheel-spider-inspired hexapod robot

Abstract

This study aims to realize rolling locomotion by a multi-legged robot inspired by “wheel spider” in nature. A novel robot mechanism and a strategy for rolling locomotion is proposed in this paper based on motion analysis of wheel spider species in nature. We also present details of a model of a wheel-spider-inspired hexapod robot and design of its controller in realizing rolling locomotion. Results of numerical simulations validated the efficacy of the proposed approach in synthesizing rolling locomotion in a wheel-spider-inspired hexapod robot.