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.

A Flexure-Based Linear Guide With Torsion Reinforcement Structures

Abstract

In this study, a flexure-based (compliant) linear guide with a motion range comparable to its footprint is presented. The design consists of two-folded leaf springs on which torsion reinforcement structures are added. Due to these structures, only two-folded leaf springs are needed instead of a minimum of five as in preexisting designs. The new design is compared to such a preexisting design, after optimizing both on a support stiffness metric. The new design scores over twice as high on the support stiffness metric, while occupying a smaller (−33%) and a less obstructive build volume. Stress, build volume, and manufacturing limitations are taken into account. In addition, a variation on the new design using three torsion reinforced folded leaf springs is presented and optimized. This design occupies a build volume similar to the preexisting design, but scores four times higher on the support stiffness metric. A prototype of the new design is built and its parasitic eigenfrequencies are measured, validating the theoretical models (normalized mean absolute error of 4.3%).

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