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LIMBERO: A Limbed Climbing Exploration Robot Toward Traveling on Rocky Cliffs

Kentaro Uno, Masazumi Imai, Kazuki Takada, Teruhiro Kataonami, Yudai Matsuura, Antonin Ringeval-Meusnier, Keita Nagaoka, Mikio Eguchi, Ryo Nishibe, Kazuya Yoshida

Abstract

In lunar and planetary exploration, legged robots have attracted significant attention as an alternative to conventional wheeled robots, which struggle to traverse rough and uneven terrain. To enable locomotion over highly irregular and steeply inclined surfaces, limbed climbing robots equipped with grippers on their feet have emerged as a promising solution. In this paper, we present LIMBERO, a 10 kg-class quadrupedal climbing robot that employs spine-type grippers for stable locomotion and climbing on rugged and steep terrain. We first introduce a novel gripper design featuring coupled finger-closing and spine-hooking motions, tightly actuated by a single motor, which achieves exceptional grasping performance (>150 N) despite its lightweight design (525 g). Furthermore, we develop an efficient algorithm to visualize a geometry-based graspability index on continuous rough terrain. Finally, we integrate these components into LIMBERO and demonstrate its ability to ascend steep rocky surfaces under a 1 G gravity condition, a performance not previously achieved yet for limbed climbing robots of this scale.

LIMBERO: A Limbed Climbing Exploration Robot Toward Traveling on Rocky Cliffs

Abstract

In lunar and planetary exploration, legged robots have attracted significant attention as an alternative to conventional wheeled robots, which struggle to traverse rough and uneven terrain. To enable locomotion over highly irregular and steeply inclined surfaces, limbed climbing robots equipped with grippers on their feet have emerged as a promising solution. In this paper, we present LIMBERO, a 10 kg-class quadrupedal climbing robot that employs spine-type grippers for stable locomotion and climbing on rugged and steep terrain. We first introduce a novel gripper design featuring coupled finger-closing and spine-hooking motions, tightly actuated by a single motor, which achieves exceptional grasping performance (>150 N) despite its lightweight design (525 g). Furthermore, we develop an efficient algorithm to visualize a geometry-based graspability index on continuous rough terrain. Finally, we integrate these components into LIMBERO and demonstrate its ability to ascend steep rocky surfaces under a 1 G gravity condition, a performance not previously achieved yet for limbed climbing robots of this scale.
Paper Structure (19 sections, 1 equation, 11 figures, 1 table, 1 algorithm)

This paper contains 19 sections, 1 equation, 11 figures, 1 table, 1 algorithm.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Spine Gripper Design
  3. Principle
  4. Mechanism
  5. Limbed Climbing Robot Design
  6. Limb Design
  7. Base Design
  8. Software Design
  9. Graspability Assessment
  10. Problem Formulation
  11. Terrain Array
  12. Gripper Mask
  13. Geometric Graspability Assessment
  14. Result
  15. Experiments
  16. ...and 4 more sections

Figures (11)

  • Figure 1: LIMBERO: A Limbed Climbing Exploration Robot. LIMBERO's spine gripper can hold 15 kg load in Earth gravity (bottom left). Developed algorithm can visualize graspability score in the irregular terrain map (bottom right).
  • Figure 2: Grasping performance by the developed gripper.
  • Figure 3: Gripper design: a servo motor drives a worm and two worm wheels, which linearly move the stage (yellow) to tighten or loosen the metal wires, thereby opening and closing the gripper.
  • Figure 4: Limb design: three actuators are concentrated at the shoulder via a parallel-linked mechanism, reducing limb inertia while preserving a large workspace. Three pitch joints requiring high torque capacity are equipped with a 3.5:1 planetary gear reduction.
  • Figure 5: Base design: an axisymmetric structure accomodates electronics, sensors, and batteries.
  • ...and 6 more figures