Model-Based Design and Evaluation of a Brachiating Monkey Robot with an Active Waist
Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
A.K.-Y.L. and Y.-H.Y. contributed equally to this work.
Appl. Sci. 2017, 7(9), 947; https://doi.org/10.3390/app7090947
Received: 4 July 2017 / Revised: 19 August 2017 / Accepted: 7 September 2017 / Published: 14 September 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bio-Inspired Robotics)
We report on the model-based development of a monkey robot that is capable of performing continuous brachiation locomotion on swingable rod, as the intermediate step toward studying brachiation on the soft rope or on horizontal ropes with both ends fixed. The work is different from other previous works where the model or the robot swings on fixed bars. The model, which is composed of two rigid links, was inspired by the dynamic motion of primates. The model further served as the design guideline for a robot that has five degree of freedoms: two on each arm for rod changing and one on the waist to initiate a swing motion. The model was quantitatively formulated, and its dynamic behavior was analyzed in simulation. Further, a two-stage controller was developed within the simulation environment, where the first stage used the natural dynamics of a two-link pendulum-like model, and the second stage used the angular velocity feedback to regulate the waist motion. Finally, the robot was empirically built and evaluated. The experimental results confirm that the robot can perform model-like swing behavior and continuous brachiation locomotion on rods.
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Keywords:
brachiation; robot; dynamics; swingable rod; rope
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MDPI and ACS Style
Lo, A.K.-Y.; Yang, Y.-H.; Lin, T.-C.; Chu, C.-W.; Lin, P.-C. Model-Based Design and Evaluation of a Brachiating Monkey Robot with an Active Waist. Appl. Sci. 2017, 7, 947.
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