(Tech Xplore)—Over at the University of California Berkeley the field of biomimetics is alive and well with researchers actively studying and harnessing the way animals can move and manage their environments— little is ignored in the mechanics and dynamics as the researchers see if they can come up with little robots with like capabilities
Over at the Uni of CA Berkeley the field of biomimetics is alive and well with researchers actively studying and harnessing the way animals can move and manage their environments. A video is up as well that shows how “Two VelociRoACH Robots Cooperatively Climb a Step.” The importance of their work is focused on the fact that they used two robots to accomplish an otherwise daunting task of climbing something. Steps placed as obstacles in research settings has posed quite a challenge for little robots unable to control leg articulation and contact forces.
Adding a winch module exerts forces on a tethered magnetic connector. Casarez said: “The tether-assisted climbing mode fills in the last piece of the step climbing strategy— instead of just sending one member of the team up the step after climbing while connected, the winch can be used to pull the other team member up the step as well.” Ackerman wrote about the winch module too: “The tethering system itself consists of a rapidly-prototyped winch module with a polyethylene monofilament tether and magnetic connector that can be latched on to a compliant pin on the back of a second VelociRoACH.” (Velocity Robotic Autonomous Crawling Hexapod.)
The 2 robots achieve what they could not individually. “Successful trials for (I) single robot transition, (II) form connection, (III) connected climbing, (IV) release connection, and (V) tether-assisted climbing primitives are shown. When these independent primitives are performed sequentially, the robot team can climb a high-traction sandpaper step 6.5 cm in height, which is tall relative to their 10 cm body length.”
Casarez said: “I think there is some more interesting work in exploring how far two-robot cooperation can go. For example, instead of climbing a step, the robot with the winch could be used as an anchor for a tethered VelociRoACH that explores down an unknown chasm, which can then be retrieved after exploring.”
Data-gathering applications in disaster areas come to mind. As Ackerman wrote, “Imagine sending a swarm of these little guys into, say, Fukushima to gather data about the environment inside: you know that half of them are going to get fried by radiation, and none of them are going to come back, but it just isn’t that big of a deal, because they’re essentially expendable.” http://techxplore.com/news/2016-05-power-robot-roaches-climb.html
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