Concept Design for Sliding Boot of Submerging-Floating Moving Platform Based on Compliant Mechanism

The traction force of walking device on normal pavement is determined by contact pressure and adhesion force related with road friction coefficient. Soft terrains should be sufficiently carrying-capable for walking devices to keep their trafficability and not sink into the surface. Deep soft terrains without bottom carrying layer, such as swamps, tidal flats, and paddy fields with deep layer of silt, are unable to provide sufficient load-bearing capacity for vehicles and walking devices. Aiming at solving above problem, a noval surmerging-floating moving platform is proposed. As one role of running gear, a skidding defined as “sliding boot” is designed. The sliding boot is a fixture clamped on the front wheel as a plier, when vehicle is running on invertebrate terrains. Due to dynamic characteristic of sliding boot, sliding boot is ultized as “floating” unit. In order to essure the reliability and safty of sliding boot, mechanism design is completed based on compliance of pneumatic tire. The design method is verified by test. The results show the design method of sliding boot is approved reasonable, feasible and practical.