Morphable limbs for multi-legged climbing on convex structures

and characterize a climbing approach inspired by simple observations of beetle climbing behavior. This article focuses on small robots that climb using a set of morphable limbs. In this context, morphable limbs refer to legs with many degrees of freedom. Constraining the operating criteria to be specific to convex/cylindrical structures permits simplification of the overall problem. Specifically, studying this subset of structures makes it feasible to rely solely on simple friction interactions rather than requiring advanced materials, microspines, or both [e.g., as used on existing systems such as RiSE (Robotics in Scansorial Environments), StickyBot, or SpinyBot systems].10–12 We present simple principles and equations for statically stable climbing by a multi-legged robot with morphable limbs. Preliminary experimental results suggest the strengths and limitations of the overall approach.