The Integrated Motion of Rolling and Hopping for a Spherical Robot

摘要

This paper introduces a novel mechanism design concept of a spherical robot that combines two motions of hopping and rolling together. This robot imitates a natural characteristic of a rubber ball which can be used to explore all terrains. The paper focuses on the criteria of the mechanism design and the modification of existent equations of motion that can be applied to our spherical rolling robot. This robot is the first phase of this research. The goal is to integrate two kinds of motion: hopping and rolling, in the same robot.