A Sixty-Legged Mechatronic Robot Centipede

摘要

A sixty-legged robot centipede-like robot has been built and tested. Its mechanical construction and computer architecture is described. The centipede is assembled from ten units. Each unit is a six-legged robot. The ten units are joined together with a compliant five degree-of-freedom mechanical link that possesses two sensors that are used to measure the relative distance and angle between each unit The link is used to maintain stable control of the centipede. An algorithm is described that causes the centipede to march in a synchronised way and also that all the units follow in the footsteps of the leading segment.