Climbot: A Bio-Inspired Modular Biped Climbing Robot—System Development, Climbing Gaits, and Experiments

Yisheng Guan; Li Jiang; Haifei Zhu; Wenqiang Wu; Xuefeng Zhou; Hong Zhang; Xiangmin Zhang

doi:10.1115/1.4028683

Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics | Volume 8 | Issue 2 | research-article

< Previous Article Next Article >

Research Papers

Climbot: A Bio-Inspired Modular Biped Climbing Robot—System Development, Climbing Gaits, and Experiments

Yisheng Guan, Li Jiang, Haifei Zhu, Wenqiang Wu, Xuefeng Zhou, Hong Zhang and Xiangmin Zhang

[+] Author and Article Information

Yisheng Guan

Professor
Biomimetic and Intelligent Robotics Lab (BIRL),
School of Electromechanical Engineering,
Guangdong University of Technology,
Guangzhou, Guangdong 510006, China
e-mail: ysguan@gdut.edu.cn

Li Jiang

School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering,
Wuyi University,
Jiangmen, Guangdong 529020, China

Haifei Zhu

Biomimetic and Intelligent Robotics Lab (BIRL),
School of Electromechanical Engineering,
Guangdong University of Technology,
Guangzhou, Guangdong 510006, China

Wenqiang Wu

School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering,
Guangzhou University,
Guangzhou, Guangdong 510006, China

Xuefeng Zhou

Automation Institute of Guangzhou,
Guangzhou, Guangdong 510070, China

Hong Zhang

Professor
Department of Computing Science,
University of Alberta,
Edmonton, AB T6G 2E8, Canada
e-mail: hzhang@ualberta.ca

Xiangmin Zhang

Professor
School of Mechanical and
Automotive Engineering,
South China University of Technology,
Guangzhou, Guangdong 510640, China

¹Corresponding author.

²Also with Biomimetic and Intelligent Robotics Lab (BIRL), School of Electromechanical Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, Guangdong, China.

Contributed by the Mechanisms and Robotics Committee of ASME for publication in the JOURNAL OF MECHANISMS AND ROBOTICS. Manuscript received April 30, 2013; final manuscript received September 20, 2014; published online January 27, 2016. Editor: Vijay Kumar.

J. Mechanisms Robotics 8(2), 021026 (Jan 27, 2016) (17 pages) Paper No: JMR-13-1085; doi: 10.1115/1.4028683 History: Received April 30, 2013; Revised September 20, 2014

Article

References

Figures

Tables

Citing Articles

Supplemental Materials

Abstract

Agriculture, forestry, and building industry would be prospective fields of robotic applications. High-rise tasks in these fields require robots with climbing skills. Motivated by these potential applications and inspired by animal climbing motion, we have developed a biped climbing robot—Climbot. Built with a modular approach, the robot consists of five joint modules connected in series and two special grippers mounted at the ends, with the scalability of changing degrees-of-freedom (DoFs). With this configuration, Climbot not only has superior mobility on multiple climbing media, such as poles and trusses, but also has the function of grasping and manipulating objects. It is a kind of “mobile” manipulator and represents an advancement in development of climbing robots. In this paper, we first present the development of this climbing robot with modular and bio-inspired methods, and then propose and compare three climbing gaits based on the unique configuration and features of the robot. A series of challenging and comprehensive experiments with the robot climbing in a truss and performing an outdoor manipulation task are carried out, to illustrate the feasibility, the features, the climbing, and manipulating functions of the robot, and to verify the effectiveness of the proposed gaits.

FIGURES IN THIS ARTICLE

Purchase this Content

$25.00

Purchase

Learn about subscription and purchase options

Your Session has timed out. Please sign back in to continue.

References

Kushihashi, Y. , Yoshikawa, K. , Imai, K. , Terashima, A. , Shirai, Y. , and Suga, Y. , 2006, “ Development of Tree-Climbing and Pruning Robot Woody-1—Simplification of Control Using Adjust Function of Grasping Power (in Japanese),” JSME Conference on Robotics and Mechatronics, Waseda, Tokyo, Japan, May 26–28, pp. 1A1–E08.

Kawasaki, H. , Murakami, S. , Koganemaru, K. , Ishigure, Y. , and Ueki, S. , 2010, “ Development of a Pruning Robot With the Use of Its Own Weight,” CLAWAR2010: 13th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots and the Support Technologies for Mobile Machines, Nagoya, Japan, Aug. 31–Sept. 3, pp. 455–463.

Almonacid, M. , Saltaren, R. , Aracil, R. , and Reinoso, O. , 2003, “ Motion Planning of a Climbing Parallel Robot,” IEEE Trans. Rob. Autom., 19(3), pp. 485–489. [CrossRef]

Aracil, R. , Saltaren, R. , and Reinoso, O. , 2006, “ A Climbing Parallel Robot: A Robot to Climb Along Tubular and Metallic Structures,” IEEE Rob. Autom. Mag., 2006(3), pp. 16–22. [CrossRef]

Autumn, K. , Buehler, M. , Cutkosky, M. , Fearing, R. , and Full, R. , 2005, “ Robotics in Scansorial Environments,” Proc. SPIE, 5804, pp. 291–302.

Spenko, M. , Haynes, G. , Saunders, J. , Cutkosky, M. , Rizzi, A. , Full, R. , and Koditschek, D. , 2008, “ Biologically Inspired Climbing With a Hexapedal Robot,” J. Field Rob., 24(4–5), pp. 223–242. [CrossRef]

Haynes, G. , Khripin, A. , Lynch, G. , Amory, J. , Saunders, A. , Rizzi, A. , and Koditschek, D. , 2009, “ Rapid Pole Climbing With a Quadrupedal Robot,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA '09), Kobe, Japan, May 12–17, pp. 2767–2772.

Lam, T. L. , and Xu, Y. , 2011, “ A Flexible Tree Climbing Robot: Treebot—Design and Implementation,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Shanghai, China, May 9–13, pp. 5849–5854.

Vossoughi, G. , Bagheri, S. , and Tavakoli, M. , 2004, “ Design, Modeling and Kinematics Analysis of a Novel Serial/Parallel Pole Climbing and Manipulating Robot,” ASME Paper No. ESDA2004-58436.

Baghani, A. , Ahmadabadi, M. , and Harati, A. , 2005, “ Kinematics Modeling of a Wheel-Based Pole Climbing Robot (UT-PCR),” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Barcelona, Spain, Apr. 18–22, pp. 2111–2116.

Hosokai, H. , Hara, F. , Uchida, Y. , Abe, Y. , Tanaka, K. , and Tanaka, Y. , 1995, “ Mechanism and Control of Mobile Pipeline Maintenance Robot With Lazy Tongs Mechanism,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, May 21–27, pp. 851–856.

Wright, C. , Johnson, A. , Peck, A. , Mccord, Z. , Naaktgeboren, A. , and Gianfortoni, P. , 2007, “ Design of a Modular Snake Robot,” IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2007), San Diego, CA, Oct. 29–Nov. 2, pp. 2609–2614.

Yim, M. , Homans, S. , and Roufas, K. , 2001, “ Climbing With Snake-Like Robots,” IFAC Workshop on Mobile Robot Technology, Jejudo, Korea, May 21–22.

Chu, B. , Kim, D. , and Hong, D. , 2008, “ Robotic Automation Technologies in Construction: A Review,” Int. J. Precis. Eng. Manuf., 9(3), pp. 85–91.

Hjelle, D. , and Lipson, H. , 2009, “ A Robotically Reconfigurable Truss,” ASME/IFToMM International Conference on Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots (ReMAR 2009), London, June 22–24, pp. 73–78.

Peters, G. , Pagano, D. , Liu, D. , and Waldron, K. , 2010, “ A Prototype Climbing Robot for Inspection of Complex Ferrous Structures,” 13th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots and the Support Technologies for Mobile Machines (CLAWAR2010), Nagoya, Japan, Aug. 31–Sept. 3, pp. 150–156.

Yoon, Y. , and Rus, D. , 2007, “ Shady3D: A Robot That Climbs 3D Trusses,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Rome, Italy, Apr. 10–14, pp. 4071–4076.

Tavakoli, M. , Marjovi, A. , Marques, L. , and de Almeida, A. , 2008, “ 3DCLIMBER: A Climbing Robot for Inspection of 3D Human Made Structures,” IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2008), Nice, France, Sept. 22–26, pp. 4130–4135.

Xu, Y. , Brown, H. , Aoki, S. , and Kanade, T. , 1994, “ Mobility and Manipulation of a Light-Weight Space Robot,” J. Rob. Auton. Syst., 13(1), pp. 1–12. [CrossRef]

Nakanishi, J. , Fukuda, T. , and Koditschek, D. , 2000, “ A Brachiating Robot Controller,” IEEE Trans. Rob. Autom., 16(2), pp. 109–123. [CrossRef]

Kajima, H. , Doi, M. , Hasegawa, Y. , and Fukuda, T. , 2005, “ Energy Based Swing Control of a Brachiating Robot,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2005), Barcelona, Spain, Apr. 18–22, pp. 1781–1786.

Fujii, S. , Inoue, K. , Takubo, T. , Mae, Y. , and Arai, T. , 2008, “ Ladder Climbing Control for Limb Mechanism Robot Asterisk,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2008), Pasadena, CA, May 19–23, pp. 3052–3057.

Inoue, K. , Tsurutani, T. , Takubo, T. , and Arai, T. , 2006, “ Omni-Directional Gait of Limb Mechanism Robot Hanging From Grid-Like Structure,” IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Beijing, China, Oct. 9–15, pp. 1732–1737.

Balaguer, C. , Gimenez, A. , and Jardon, A. , 2005, “ Climbing Robots Mobility for Inspection and Maintenance of 3D Complex Environments,” Auton. Robots, 18(2), pp. 157–169. [CrossRef]

Chen, H. , Sheng, W. , Xi, N. , and Tan, J. , 2005, “ Motion Control of a Micro Biped Robot for Nondestructive Structure Inspection,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2005), Barcelona, Spain, Apr. 18–22, pp. 480–485.

Krosuri, S. , and Minor, M. , 2003, “ A Multifunctional Hybrid Hip Joint for Improved Adaptability in Miniature Climbing Robots,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA '03), Taipei, Taiwan, Sept. 14–19, pp. 312–317.

Minor, M. , Dulimarta, H. , Danghi, G. , Mukherjee, R. , Tummala, R. L. , and Aslam, D. , 2000, “ Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of an Under-Actuated Miniature Biped Climbing Robot,” IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2000), Wailea, HI, Oct. 29–Nov. 3, pp. 1999–2005.

Xiao, J. , Minor, M. , Dulimarta, H. , Xi, N. , Mukherjee, R. , and Tummala, R. , 2001, “ Modeling and Control of an Under-Actuated Miniature Crawler Robot,” IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), San Francisco, CA, Sept. 25–30, pp. 1546–1551.

Yue, M. , Xi, N. , Minor, M. , and Mukherjee, R. , 2000, “ Dynamic Workspace Analysis and Motion Planning for a Micro Biped Walking Robot,” IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2000), Wailea, HI, Oct. 29–Nov. 3, pp. 1900–1905.

Zhu, H. , Guan, Y. , Cai, C. , Jiang, L. , Zhang, X. , and Zhang, H. , 2010, “ W-Climbot: A Biped Modular Wall-Climbing Robot,” IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation (ICMA), Xi'an, China, Aug. 4–7, pp. 1399–1404.

Tavakoli, M. , Marques, L. , and de Almeida, A. , 2009, “ Self Calibration of Step-by-Step Based Climbing Robots,” IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2009), St. Louis, MO, Oct. 10–15, pp. 3297–3303.

Guan, Y. , Jiang, L. , and Zhang, X. , 2007, “ Mechanical Design and Basic Analysis of a Modular Robot With Special Climbing and Manipulation Functions,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO 2007), Sanya, China, Dec. 15–18, pp. 502–507.

Guan, Y. , Jiang, L. , Zhang, X. , and Zhang, H. , 2009, “ Climbing Gaits of a Modular Biped Climbing Robot,” IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM 2009), Singapore, July 14–17, pp. 532–537.

Cai, C. , Zhu, H. , Jiang, L. , Guan, Y. , Zhang, X. , and Zhang, H. , 2009, “ A Biologically Inspired Miniature Biped Climbing Robot,” IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Automation (ICMA 2009), Changchun, China, Aug. 9–12, pp. 2653–2658.

Guan, Y. , Jiang, L. , Zhang, X. , Zhang, X. , and Zhou, X. , 2009, “ Development of Novel Robots With Modular Methodology,” IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2009), St. Louis, MO, Oct. 10–15, pp. 2385–2390.

Hirose, S. , 1993, Biologically Inspired Robots: Snake-Like Locomotor and Manipulator, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.

Ma, S. , 2001, “ Analysis of Creeping Locomotion of a Snake-Like Robot,” Adv. Rob., 15(2), pp. 205–224. [CrossRef]

Wang, W. , Wang, Y. , Wang, K. , Zhang, H. , and Zhang, J. , 2008, “ Analysis of the Kinematics of Module Climbing Caterpillar Robots,” IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM 2008), Xi'an, China, July 2–5, pp. 84–89.

Kamimura, A. , Murata, S. , Yoshida, E. , Korokawa, H. , Tomita, K. , and Kokaji, S. , 2001, “ Self-Reconfigurable Modular Robot—Experiments on Reconfiguration and Locomotion,” IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2001), San Francisco, CA, Sept. 25–30, pp. 606–612.

Yim, M. , Duff, D. G. , and Roufas, K. D. , 2000, “ Polybot: A Modular Reconfigurable Robot,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA '00), San Francisco, CA, Apr. 24–28, pp. 514–520.

Yoshida, E. , Murata, S. , Kokaji, S. , Kamimura, A. , Tomita, K. , and Kurokawa, H. , 2002, “ Get Back in Shape! A Hardware Prototype Self-Reconfigurable Modular Microrobot That Uses Shape Memory Alloy,” IEEE Rob. Autom. Mag., 9(4), pp. 54–60. [CrossRef]

Guan, Y. , Zhou, X. , Zhu, H. , Jiang, L. , Cai, C. , Zhang, Z. , and Zhang, H. , 2011, “ A Novel 6-DoF Biped Walking Robot—Walking Gaits, Patterns and Experiments,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Shanghai, China, May 9–13, pp. 3542–3547.

Guan, Y. , Shi, X. , Zhou, X. , Zhang, X. , and Zhang, H. , 2009, “ A Novel Mobile Robot Capable of Changing Its Wheel Distance and Body Configuration,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), Guilin, China, Dec. 19–23, pp. 806–811.

Jiang, L. , Guan, Y. , Zhou, X. , Zhu, H. , Zhang, X. , and Zhang, H. , 2010, “ Grasping Analysis for a Biped Climbing Robot,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), Tianjin, China, Dec. 18–22, pp. 579–584.

Zhu, H. , Guan, Y. , Wu, W. , Chen, X. , Zhou, X. , and Zhang, H. , 2014, “ A Binary Approximating Method for Graspable Region Determination of Biped Climbing Robots,” Adv. Rob. 28(21), pp. 1405–1418.

Guan, Y. , Xiao, Z. , Wu, W. , Wu, J. , Zhu, H. , and Su, M. , 2012, “ Gripper Self-Alignment for Autonomous Pole-Grasping With a Biped Climbing Robot,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO), Guangzhou, China, Dec. 11–4, pp. 181–186.

Figures

Fig. 4

Pictures of the two joint modules: (a) T100 (T-type module) and (b) I100 (I-type module)

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 3

Components of the pancake-type harmonic drive: (a) the original and (b) the customized

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 5

Transmission chain of the gripper module

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 6

Pictures of the gripper module: (a) side view and (b) front view

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 8

Pictures and kinematic models of the modular robots: (a) 6DoFs: 4T + 2I, (b) 6DoFs: 3T + 3I, and (c) 5DoFs: 3T + 2I

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 7

Important parameters for grasping with the gripper

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 10

Software architecture of the robot

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 12

The inchworm gait

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 11

The kinematic model for climbing transition

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 13

The swinging-around gait

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 14

The flipping-over gait

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 15

Simulation of the robot climbing poles: (a) climbing simulation and (b) pole orientation

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 9

Hardware architecture of the robot

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 2

Transmission chain of the joint modules

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 1

Climbing animals and a bio-inspired mechanical model

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 16

Torque and power of T₀ with the inchworm gait

Torque and power of T0 with the inchworm gait

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 17

Torque and power of I₁ with the swinging-around gait

Torque and power of I1 with the swinging-around gait

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 18

Torque and power of T₁ with the flipping-over gait

Torque and power of T1 with the flipping-over gait

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 19

Tests of the maximum end velocity and climbing velocity: (a) maximum end velocity and (b) maximum climbing velocity

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 20

Climbot climbing a truss with the three gaits: (a) climbing a vertical pole with the swinging-around gait, (b) transiting between poles with the flipping-over gait, and (c) climbing a horizontal pole with the inchworm gait

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 22

Climbot climbing an outdoor pole and unscrewing a bulb

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 23

Possibility of transition between two poles in a truss

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Fig. 21

Climbot transiting among poles in a truss

View Large | Save Figure | Download Slide (.ppt)

Tables

Errata

Web of Science® Times Cited: 4

Some tools below are only available to our subscribers or users with an online account.

Sections
PDF
Email

You must be logged in as an individual user to share content.

Return to: Climbot: A Bio-Inspired Modular Biped Climbing Robot—System Development, Climbing Gaits, and Experiments

Copyright in the material you requested is held by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (unless otherwise noted). This email ability is provided as a courtesy, and by using it you agree that you are requesting the material solely for personal, non-commercial use, and that it is subject to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Terms of Use. The information provided in order to email this topic will not be used to send unsolicited email, nor will it be furnished to third parties. Please refer to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Privacy Policy for further information.
Share
Get Citation

Guan Y, Jiang L, Zhu H, et al. Climbot: A Bio-Inspired Modular Biped Climbing Robot—System Development, Climbing Gaits, and Experiments. ASME. J. Mechanisms Robotics. 2016;8(2):021026-021026-17. doi:10.1115/1.4028683.

Download citation file:

RIS (Zotero)

EndNote

BibTex

Medlars

ProCite

RefWorks

Reference Manager

© Copyright
Get Alerts

Processing your request... Please Wait.

Climbot: A Bio-Inspired Modular Biped Climbing Robot—System Development, Climbing Gaits, and Experiments

Abstract

FIGURES IN THIS ARTICLE

References

Figures

Tables

Errata

Related Content

Journals

Conference Proceedings

eBooks