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A transformable wheel-spoke-paddle hybrid amphibious robot

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2023

Yikai Ge ,
Feng Gao  and
Weixing Chen Open the ORCID record for Weixing Chen [Opens in a new window]
Yikai Ge
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China Research Center of Marine Intelligent Equipment and Robot, Institute of Marine Equipment, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
Feng Gao
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China Research Center of Marine Intelligent Equipment and Robot, Institute of Marine Equipment, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
Weixing Chen*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Mechanical System and Vibration, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China Research Center of Marine Intelligent Equipment and Robot, Institute of Marine Equipment, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
*
Corresponding author: Weixing Chen; Email: wxchen@sjtu.edu.cn
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Abstract

The intricate water-land intermingled nature of wild environments necessitates robots to exhibit multimodal cross-domain mobility capabilities. This paper introduces a novel wheel-spoke-paddle hybrid amphibious robot (WSP-bot) that can operate on flat and rough terrains, water surfaces, and water-land transitional zones. The proposed robot relies on a propulsion mechanism called transformable wheel-spoke-paddle (WSP), which combines the stability of wheeled robots with the obstacle-climbing capability of legged robots, while also providing additional aquatic mobility. The utilization of a crank-slider-based transformation mechanism enables seamless switching between multiple motion modes. An analysis of mode transition and ground motion in spoke mode was conducted, along with an investigation of its obstacle-crossing capability. Simulations were performed for mode transition, ground locomotion, and obstacle-crossing, as well as propulsion of a single WSP module on water. Based on the above work, a prototype robot was manufactured. Prototype tests, including mode transition and mobility tests on land and water surfaces under multimodal states, confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed WSP-bot.

Keywords

amphibious robotmobile robottransformable mechanismmultimodal motion
Type
Research Article
Information
Robotica , Volume 42 , Issue 3 , March 2024 , pp. 701 - 727
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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