Researchers from Worcester Polytechnic Institute have unveiled the OmniWheg robotic system. She
The key idea of scientists is that althoughlegs make robots more attractive, giving them human or animal features, they are not always the best solution when moving. So instead of developing a robot with a single movement mechanism, the team decided to create a system that can switch between different mechanisms.
In their work, scientists used the concept"whegs" (i.e. wheel-legs or wing-legs), which has been around for more than a decade. Previously, several systems based on this technology were developed and tested, but most did not work very well, scientists say. The main problem is the difficulty of coordinating the right and left side of the wheel-leg system, which must be perfectly aligned when the robot climbs the stairs.
To solve coordination problems usually associatedwith wheel-and-foot mechanisms, we used an omnidirectional wheel. This is the last piece of the puzzle as it allows the robot to align itself on the fly without rotating its body.
Zhusyan Cao, study co-author
The researchers tested their system in a seriesexperiments. For example, the device needed to avoid obstacles, climb stairs with different heights, and perform turns and turns in different directions. The robot successfully coped with all tasks. The authors of the work note that the new robot can move forward, backward and in different directions with very low energy costs. In addition, when necessary, he quickly climbs the stairs.
Convertible wheel device. Image: Andre Rosendo and Ruixiang Cao
In the future, the system created by engineers could be integrated into both existing and new robots to improve their efficiency when navigating indoors.
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