A Cockroach-Inspired Hexapod Robot Actuated by LIPCA

In this paper, we present the design and prototype of a six-legged walking robot which uses lightweight piezoceramic composite curved actuator (LIPCA) as its actuator. LIPCA consists of multiple layers of glass/epoxy and carbon/epoxy that encapsulate a unimorph piezoelectric ceramic actuator. It uses lightweight fiber-reinforced plastic layers, and it is a lighter structure and generates a higher force and a larger displacement than other conventional piezo-composite type actuators. Like most six-legged walking insects including cockroaches, our robot uses the alternating tripod gait where the front and rear legs on the same side move together with the middle leg on the other side for its locomotion. Two LIPCA strips in different phases are used for actuating each tripod so that only one tripod may touch the ground. All the experiments with the prototype show that LIPCA can be used as an alternative actuator for small and light mobile robots

[1]  Kwang Joon Yoon,et al.  Application of LIPCA as actuator for active vibration control of dynamic structures , 2005, SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring.

[2]  Ephrahim Garcia,et al.  Development of a piezoelectrically-actuated mesoscale robot quadruped , 2001 .

[3]  A. Torii,et al.  Micro robot actuated by rapid deformation of piezoelectric elements , 2001, MHS2001. Proceedings of 2001 International Symposium on Micromechatronics and Human Science (Cat. No.01TH8583).

[4]  Hoon Cheol Park,et al.  Design and evaluation of LIPCA-actuated flapping device , 2005 .

[5]  R. Quinn,et al.  Convergent evolution and locomotion through complex terrain by insects, vertebrates and robots. , 2004, Arthropod structure & development.

[6]  Ulrich Rückert,et al.  Continuous sonar sensing for mobile mini-robots , 2002, Proceedings 2002 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.02CH37292).

[7]  Nam Seo Goo,et al.  Analytical design model for a piezo-composite unimorph actuator and its verification using lightweight piezo-composite curved actuators , 2004 .

[8]  Kwang Joon Yoon,et al.  Design and evaluation of a LIPCA-actuated flapping device , 2005, SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring.

[9]  Stephanie A. Wise,et al.  Displacement properties of RAINBOW and THUNDER piezoelectric actuators , 1998 .

[10]  Geoffrey A. Hollinger,et al.  Genetic Optimization and Simulation of a Piezoelectric Pipe-Crawling Inspection Robot , 2005, Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.