Gait Generation and Mechatronic Design of Planar Walker

A surface walking/climbing robot is developed based on a simple planar 8-bar locomotion mechanism using four 2-way linear cylinders and four 2-way gripper modules. The robot may traverse a fixed distance or turn at a fixed angle after completing a series of repetitive cylinder and gripper actions termed gaits. Symmetric arrangement of the actuators decouples the translation and rotation of the robot. Hence the robot can swiftly change its direction of travel. Basic locomotion gaits are classified and modeled using finite state machines. Experiments on the real prototype are conducted to establish the repeatability and consistency of gait performances. Mechatronic design of the Planar Walker system is also described.