Latest Papers

ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics

  • A Small-Scale Integrated Jumping-Crawling Robot: Design, Modeling, and Demonstration
    on June 16, 2025 at 12:00 am

    AbstractThe small jumping-crawling robot improves its obstacle-crossing ability by selecting appropriate locomotion methods. However, current research on jumping-crawling robots remains focused on enhancing specific aspects of performance, and several issues still exist, including nonadjustable gaits, poor stability, nonadjustable jumping posture, and poor motion continuity. This article presents a small jumping-crawling robot with decoupled jumping and crawling mechanisms, offline adjustable gaits, autonomous self-righting, autonomous steering, and certain slope-climbing abilities. The crawling mechanism adopts a partially adjustable Klann six-bar linkage, which can generate four stride lengths and three gaits. The jumping mechanism is designed as a six-bar linkage with passive compliance, and an active clutch allows energy storage and release in any state. The autonomous self-righting mechanism enables the robot to self-right after tipping over, meanwhile providing support, steering, and posture adjustment functions. Prototype experiments show that the designed robot demonstrates good motion stability and can climb a 45 deg slope without tipping over. The robot shows excellent steering performance, with a single action taking 5 s and achieving a steering angle of 11.5 deg. It also exhibits good motion continuity, with an average recovery time of 12 s to return to crawling mode after a jump. Crawling experiments on rough terrain demonstrate the feasibility of applying the designed robot in real-world scenarios.

Data-Driven Analysis of Locomotion for a Class of Articulated Mobile Robots

Abstract

In the recent past, the use of autonomous vehicles is becoming of relevant interest in several fields of application. In many cases, the use of articulated structures is preferred to single chassis robots for their peculiar modularity. Such vehicles are often built as an active front module and a rear one that is pulled passively or that can contribute to the vehicle traction when required. Understanding whether this contribution is convenient or not is the main matter of this paper. Two different mobile robots of different scales and purposes are taken into consideration. A dynamic model is presented and analyzed. An experimental validation of the model parameters is also presented in order to make it exploitable as a reliable analysis tool. At last, a simple yet effective actuation law is tested for both the considered robots to evaluate whether the contribution of the back module is beneficial or not to the whole machine maneuverability.
Read More
Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics Open Issues