Title
Wheel Transformer: A Wheel-Leg Hybrid Robot With Passive Transformable Wheels
Abstract
We report on the design, optimization, and performance evaluation of a new wheel-leg hybrid robot. This robot utilizes a novel transformable wheel that combines the advantages of both circular and legged wheels. To minimize the complexity of the design, the transformation process of the wheel is passive, which eliminates the need for additional actuators. A new triggering mechanism is also employed to increase the transformation success rate. To maximize the climbing ability in legged-wheel mode, the design parameters for the transformable wheel and robot are tuned based on behavioral analyses. The performance of our new development is evaluated in terms of stability, energy efficiency, and the maximum height of an obstacle that the robot can climb over. With the new transformable wheel, the robot can climb over an obstacle 3.25 times as tall as its wheel radius, without compromising its driving ability at a speed of 2.4 body lengths/s with a specific resistance of 0.7 on a flat surface.
Year
DOI
Venue
2014
10.1109/TRO.2014.2365651
IEEE Transactions on Robotics
Keywords
Field
DocType
Wheels,Legged locomotion,Mobile robots,Torque
Robot control,Obstacle,Efficient energy use,Control theory,Transformer,Control engineering,Robot,Climb,Climbing,Mathematics,Actuator
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
30
6
1552-3098
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
12
0.75
20
Authors
5
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Yoo-Seok Kim1191.43
Gwang-Pil Jung2347.20
Haan Kim3120.75
Kyu-Jin Cho432470.86
Chong-Nam Chu522115.80