Structural Design and Stroke Kinematics Analysis of a Water Strider Robot

Abstract

A new bionic robot with buoyancy as the supporting force that is inspired by the water strider has been presented in this paper. When the water strider moves on the surface of water, it can form an ellipse-like spatial stroke trajectory which is seldom imitated by the stroke mechanism. The stroke mechanism which consists of a linear guide and rotation coupling mechanism is installed on the novel buoyancy-supported water strider robot, which can form an ellipse-like spatial stroke trajectory similar to a real water strider. The force generated by the stroke leg could be mainly in the horizontal plane, which is favorable to the stability of the water strider robot. Finally, it is proved that the stroke mechanism can produce an ellipse-like spatial trajectory in practical application and the robot has good mobility in the experimental results. The independent power supply is placed on the robot which also can be controlled by a remote-control equipment.