Quadrupedal Robot With Leg-and-Wheel Transformable Origami Mechanism

초록

In this letter, a novel quadrupedal robot with a leg-and-wheel transformable origami mechanism was introduced. The robot demonstrated a bidirectional mode conversion between leg mode and wheel mode. In particular, each leg-and-wheel transformable origami mechanism (LAWTOM) unit was based on Kresling pattern origami cylinders, tendon-driven operation methods, and a hybrid design structure. The Kresling pattern origami cylinders were deployed to deform the legs through extension, contraction, and bending with the tendon-driven methods. In addition, the hybrid design of soft and rigid components enabled the transformation for the mode conversion. A kinematic model of the mode conversion from the leg mode to the wheel mode was built up. Moreover, a series of experiments was conducted to investigate the robot's mobility in terms of its transformable ability.

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