STUDY OF ANT LOCOMOTION IN SURFACE TRANSITIONS FOR CLIMBING ROBOT DESIGN

Abstract

Many climbing robots designed based on simple representations of the arthropod body have proven to be able to move on relatively flat surfaces and simple environments. However these robots are not able to navigate in complex environments such as steel bridges. This paper presents experimental studies on ant locomotion, particularly focusing on ant leg gait and posture when traversing a variety of complex surfaces, with the aim of providing climbing robot designers a better understanding of biological ant locomotion through a complex terrain. © 2012 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.