Design of a Sensor System for a Minimalistic Walking Robot with Two Degrees of Freedom
Lyubomira Miteva, Ivan Chavdarov, Kaloyan Yovchev, Bozhidar Naydenov · 2021
This research considers the design of a sensor system for walking robot which can be used for coverage path planning and precise surface exploration. The paper presents an updated mechanical design of a minimalistic walking robot with a fixed step size. The robot has only two degrees of freedom. The specific mechanical design prevents the accumulation of any odometry error and does not require any external navigation system. The robot is equipped with a variety of distance and tactile sensors which allow precise exploration of the surface and any high or low spots of the surface to be located. This paper proposes an approach for path planning and surface exploration by using the proposed sensor system. Despite that the robot is based on a minimalistic approach, it can move and operate on complex surfaces. Also, by altering its movement direction it can effectively use its sensor system for distant global object scanning or for local exploration of the walking surface. The conducted experiment showed that the presented in this research mechanical design of a walking robot with fixed step can be used for precise surface exploration.