THE APPLICATION OF BIOINSPIRED JUMPING LOCOMOTION PRINCIPLES TO MOBILE ROBOTS - MODELING AND ANALYSIS

Nature provides various alternative locomotion strategies which could be applied to robotic systems. One such strategy is that of lumping, which enables centimeter to millimeter-scaled insects to traverse highly unstructured environments quickly and efficiently. These insects generate the required high magnitude power through specialized structures which store and rapidly release large amounts of energy. This paper presents an investigation into the morphology of natural jumpers and derives a generalized mathematical model based on them. The model describes mathematically the relationships present in a jumping system which uses a pause-and-leap jumping strategy. The use of springs as energy storage elements for such a jumping system is assessed. The discussion is then further extended to another bioinspired approach that can be applied to a jumping robot: that of gliding using foldable wings. The developed jumping and gliding mobility paradigm is analyzed and its feasibility for mobile robot applications is discussed.