30-03-2012, 12:36 PM
Hexapod
ABSTRACT
Nowadays tasks in which human presence may be avoided are increasing, such as rote and boring activities,
work which imply a great danger and, consequently, very strict security rules (e.g. some of the work carried out
in nuclear power-plants), and activities which occur in places where the human being can hardly get (e.g. spatial
and underwater exploration). Nevertheless, robotic systems can be used in other fields as well. In order to reduce
or avoid the human element it is essential to design and develop mobile robotic systems, which are able to
undertake tasks that imply a great deal of danger. Therefore, alternative systems to deal with these tasks must be
explored.
The main purpose of this work was to design a prototype of an autonomous hexapod robot. This paper reports on
an initial phase, where the basic geometry of the system was specified and improved through a kinematics and
dynamic study, using a motion analysis software. This also allowed the design of all mechanical components and
the definition of motion generation needs. In this paper the importance of legged robots on mobile research is
emphasised. The capabilities of the computational programs specially dedicated to the analysis of mechanical
systems are demonstrated. The mobility of the geometric model presented in this paper is a trade-off between
natural idea and technical feasibility. Some results of the virtual simulation of the movement of this hexapod
robotic system are presented.