This paper introduces Buckybot, a novel mobile platform, and investigates its kinematics and preliminary control algorithms. Buckybot is a ground-based platform whose geometry is based on a truncated icosahedron, i.e. a soccer ball with flattened sides. The platform has 20 passive hexagonal faces on which it can stably rest, and 12 rounded pentagonal faces which can be extended linearly to tilt Buckybot. The symmetric geometry of the robot makes it operational in any configuration which is ideal for a variety of deployment scenarios including throwing or dropping. Buckybot currently locomotes using a semi-static tipping gait to move between adjacent hexagonal faces. In this work, we present the design and low-level control of the Buckybot platform, explore the kinematics associated with Buckybot’s method of locomotion, experimentally characterize tipping, and investigate trajectory planning for this new mobile robot. Results demonstrate effective trajectory planning accounting for plan uncertainty.
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ASME 2014 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference
August 17–20, 2014
Buffalo, New York, USA
Conference Sponsors:
- Design Engineering Division
- Computers and Information in Engineering Division
ISBN:
978-0-7918-4637-7
PROCEEDINGS PAPER
Buckybot: A Robot Based on the Geometry of a Truncated Icosahedron
Michael D. M. Kutzer,
Michael D. M. Kutzer
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD
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Christopher Y. Brown,
Christopher Y. Brown
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD
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Gregory S. Chirikjian,
Gregory S. Chirikjian
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
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Mehran Armand
Mehran Armand
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD
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Michael D. M. Kutzer
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD
Christopher Y. Brown
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD
Gregory S. Chirikjian
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Mehran Armand
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD
Paper No:
DETC2014-35537, V05BT08A029; 10 pages
Published Online:
January 13, 2015
Citation
Kutzer, MDM, Brown, CY, Chirikjian, GS, & Armand, M. "Buckybot: A Robot Based on the Geometry of a Truncated Icosahedron." Proceedings of the ASME 2014 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. Volume 5B: 38th Mechanisms and Robotics Conference. Buffalo, New York, USA. August 17–20, 2014. V05BT08A029. ASME. https://doi.org/10.1115/DETC2014-35537
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