#robitcs

Key Points

Robot tasks

Bioinspired robots 

Glossary

Rhex the Hexapod Robot 

RHex was created by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. The RHex is short for robot hexapod. RHex has six independent legs and extremely unique due to its mobile ability. These legs appear to look like half circles and move in a spiral motion. They also have ridges to help with moving over rough surfaces. RHex can climb rocks, go through mud, sand, snow, gravel, 60  percent inclines and other rough terrain. vegetation, . RHex’s most impressive movements include up slopes, stairs, logs, telephone poles, and through railroad tracks. Its body is closed giving RHex the capability to function in different weather conditions. RHex can withstand temperatures from -15C to 45C, is water submersible, and can tolerate the exposure of humidity salt, oil, and sand extremes. The robot is an operator control unit that has live video fed. The IP radio range is from 400 to 700m. The battery consist of two BB2590 batteries and lasts up to 6 hours.

http://www.bostondynamics.com/robot_rhex.html

http://www.bostondynamics.com/img/RHex%20Datasheet%20v1_0.pdf

RHex’s name can already give you a clue on where its inspiration came from, a hexapod. A hexapod can be defined as an animal having six legs. The robot’s ability to move through uneven surfaces can be compared to the video seen in Module 3 section 4, “Terrestrial Insect Locomotion (Running)”. This video shows a spider running across an uneven surface. Here is the video of the spider as well as a video of RHex moving through rough Terrain.

http://crablab.gatech.edu/pages/publications/SupplementalmoviesB-n-B/movie1.movhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISznqY3kESI

RHex has evolved over time making more and more impressive. In the robot’s early stages it was not able to go through mesh because of its small rubber foot and no broad area of contact.http://crablab.gatech.edu/pages/publications/SupplementalmoviesB-n-B/movie7.mov

The robot was eventually able to succeed on mesh using a leg with distributed contact area and collapsible spines.

http://crablab.gatech.edu/pages/publications/SupplementalmoviesB-n-B/movie8.mov

The latest improvement of RHex has been X-RHex Lite, which is a lot lighter than the previous 27-pound robot. The new and improve RHex has bought much attention to the media with its ability to jump across obstacles that are bigger than itself. RHex has been called the first Parkour robot.

http://whatsnext.blogs.cnn.com/2013/08/15/met-rhex-the-curvy-legged-leaping-robot/

The new RHex can be seen running around Penn ‘s campus jumping from one picnic table to another. RHex is probably the most impressive robot that I have ever seen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntlI-pDUxPE&list=PL77E7268D93BC1B86

The researchers aim to create a robot that can go anywhere and I think they are well on their way to accomplishing that goal. I do believe that this robot is societal win. RHex has so many unique qualities that make it a great asset to society. RHex has the potential to one day rescue someone by climbing rubble or travel in the hottest of deserts. RHex’s most evident societal win is the validation in government-run independent testing. I do believe that RHex is a bioinspired robot because researchers were able to take the locomotive advantages that hexapods have and mimic and even enhance those characteristics in RHex.

Creating My Own Robot 

Meet Ladybot 

The inspiration that lead me to my robot design was the functions of a ladybug, also know as ladybird. The features of the ladybug that I chose were walking and flying. I decided on these features due to the unique ways in which these functions are completed by the ladybug. My interest in the ladybug arose when I came across a recent article that talks about the knowledge of the working principles of insects.

A seven spot ladybug (Coccinella Septempunctata) was examined and it was discovered that each leg has adhesive hair that allows it to stick on to surfaces. Each individual hair has different parts. The bases of their legs are hard and stiff, but the tips are soft and flexible. The protein resilin is responsible for the softness and elasticity of the hair tips. The complexity of its legs are said to help to adjust to uneven surfaces.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130814144746.htm

The other unique function of ladybugs is their ability to fly. Resilin also plays a key role in their ability to fly. Their wings are able to fold multiple times without getting damaged or without the ladybug getting tired.

http://www.asknature.org/strategy/6c977d93a528422ca84a1884dc3ef0ee

The ladybug has a large shell, known as the elytron, which protects the light wings underneath when it is not in flight. These wings do not have any purpose to their ability to fly. The wings underneath are four times the size of the ladybug and have veins that allow them to fold in.

http://blogs.bu.edu/bioaerial2012/2012/12/04/ladybugs-and-how-they-fly/

This video capturing a ladybug taking off in slow motion gave me great insight on how the ladybug is able to fly using its unique characteristics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=87iV4ISAY5U

I would design my Ladybot to mimic the mechanisms. The legs of Ladybot would consist of different material to in effort for the design to function in different environments. The base of the legs will be hard and the tips soft. In addition the notion of adhesive hair would be implemented by synthesizing arrays of nano hairs by casting polyurethane into a nano-pore array. This method has been seen to be used in replicating the adhesive hairs of the gecko. Perhaps a small range of micros can lessen the intensity of the adhesion. I would also implement some sort of release in effort for Ladybot to fly to different objects.

Ladybot’s wings would replicate that of the ladybug by having fabricated wings. These wings would be made of a lightweight, flexible material such as Cuben fiber.

Ladybot would be ideal in green house or garden where pests are an issue. Ladybot would be able to mimic the ladybug and serve the same beneficial purpose of scaring away harm from crops. 

Self-Reflection