Miscellaneous

there are many studies about leg-wheel hybrid mobile robot because walking robot has high terrain adaptability on irregular ground but wheeled robot takes advantage of moving speed on smooth terrain. In the past, active wheels were often used for wheeled locomotion. However installation of active wheels restricted walking machine's ability very much. Because active wheels need actuators, brake mechanism and steering mechanism. This equipment is so heavy and bulky that it's not practical solution for walking robot which has many degrees of freedom. Proposed hybrid mobile robot named "Roller-Walker" is a vehicle with a special foot mechanism which changes between feet soles for the walking mode and passive wheels for the wheel. (Photo 2(a),(b)) Roller-Walker can utilize the installed actuators for walking, so additional weight is very light. The wheeled locomotion is based on the same principle of roller-skating.

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Warsaw University of Technology
The Faculty of Electronics and Information Technology
Project made by Dawid Seredynski, Tomasz Winiarski and Bionik team.

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Organization: Toyohashi University of Technology
Authors: Yasutaka Takeda, Hironori Uto, Taisuke Miyake, Yuta Yoshiike, P. Ravindra S. De Silva, Michio Okada
Abstract: We have developed a multi-functional and self-reconfigurable novel cybernetic Core Less Unformed Machine (COLUMN). The COLUMN is a spherical-shaped (like a soccer ball) interactive artifact consisting of eight modules which are connected to twelve servomotors. Three users can control the above servomotors by swinging the ZigBee wireless modules (Column Gear) simultaneously. Each of the users can control four servomotors and each must collaborate with the appropriate swing to obtain the COLUMNs rolling motions. Our experimental results showed that the Column Gear as an interactive interface is able to convey a users expectation for a COLUMN by obtaining rolling motion through re-configuring its modules.

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Curiosity-driven learning of locomotion. Driven by intrinsic motivation, the robot explores how movements of its legs make its whole body move around. Initially, he has no knowledge of its own body and of the environment (but his body has a bio-inspired morphology and motor primitives, which provide initial structure). He is not programmed to learn specific movements such as going forward or turning on the right or left, but rather chooses to experiment what he finds "interesting": he is self-motivated to explore movements which produce "learning progress", i.e. which allows it to improve its knowledge or its skills per se. At the beginning, movements are somewhat random. Then, they robot focuses on certain kinds of movements which produce initially high-learning progress, such as walking backwards. Then, it focuses on learning movements that make it walk a bit like a crab and turn. Finally, he explores and learn movements that make it crawl forward.

"Intrinsic Motivation Systems for Autonomous Mental Development",
IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, 11(2), pp. 265--286.

by Oudeyer P-Y, Kaplan , F. and Hafner, V.
April 2007

"Active learning of inverse models with intrinsically motivated goal exploration in robots"
Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 61(1), pp. 49-73

by Baranes, A., Oudeyer, P-Y.
September 14, 2011

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Scorpio is a robot that can assist to automate in the security patrolling process. This robot can be operated in remote controlled and autonomous modes. This project was done by our IDC faculty Dr Mohan Rajesh Elara and his researchers.

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This video demonstrates the hybrid locomotion design of the mobile manipulation robot Momaro. It contains qualification material for the DARPA Robotics Challenge 2015 (DRC), material from our run at the DRC finals, footage from a stair climbing experiment in our lab, and finally material from the DLR SpaceBot Camp 2015.

"Hybrid Driving-Stepping Locomotion with the Wheeled-legged Robot Momaro"

by Max Schwarz, Tobias Rodehutskors, Michael Schreiber, and Sven Behnke

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When working on this project, I was deeply inspired by the dynamics of motion and philosophy of Kung Fu. The work was commissioned by International Guoshu Association for an Kung Fu exhibition, initiated by Hing Chao. The exhibition focuses on the legacy of Hakka martial arts in Hong Kong and will launch in Hong Kong in September. The Kung Fu Masters whose motions has been captured are: Master Wong Yiu Kau (Variation 1-3) and Master Li Shek Lin (Variation 3,4).
Regarding technical comments/questions: I used C4D for this production, but also did similar work back in the late 1990s with 3DS, or experimented with real-time environments. However, motion visualizations have been created even in pre-digital times with light, photography or costumes. Visualizing the invisible is always fascinating.

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This is my review of the Eachine H1… this nano quadcopter comes with wheels which allow it to "drive" on the walls and ceiling.

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Teledyne, along with its partner, North Carolina State University, presents the groundbreaking EagleRay experimental Cross Domain Autonomous Vehicle (XAV). Designed to seamlessly operate and transition between air and water, EagleRay provides a unique platform for deployment of sensors, target acquisition and chase, and the ability to capture and move large quantities of data from undersea platforms to air or ground based platforms.
The EagleRay XAV is a low-cost fully autonomous unmanned vehicle that does not require a runway and can perform a broad range of airborne and underwater tasks including sensing and communications. With its unique ability to achieve airborne flight, EagleRay can outperform standard UUV’s by being able to move its payload to the next location at speeds greater than 30mph.

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FCSTAR is a minimally actuated flying climbing robot capable of crawling vertically. it is the latest in the family of the STAR robots.
Designed and built at the Bio-Inspired and Medical Robotics Lab at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev by Nitzan Ben David and David Zarrouk, Design and Analysis of FCSTAR, a Hybrid Flying and Climbing Sprawl Tuned Robot, (IEEE RAL and IROS 2021)

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Y. Sato, A. Kanada, T. Mashimo, "A Palm-Sized Omnidirectional Mobile Robot Driven by 2-DOF Torus Wheels," IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2022.

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In this video, we present Ringbot, a novel leg-wheel transformer robot incorporating a monocycle mechanism with legs. Ringbot aims to provide versatile mobility by replacing the driver and driving components of a conventional monocycle vehicle with legs mounted on compact driving modules inside the wheel.

Ringbot represents KIMLAB's "ingenuity", demonstrating our ability to bring a sci-fi-like mobile robot to the real world through robotics.

Thank you for watching this video! If you're interested in exploring the technical details further, you can find them in the following link.

- Paper
K. G. Gim and J. Kim, "Ringbot: Monocycle Robot With Legs," in IEEE Transactions on Robotics, doi: 10.1109/TRO.2024.3362326

ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10423226

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We conducted trials of Ringbot outdoors on a 400m track. With a power source of 2300mAh 11.1V, Ringbot managed to cover approximately 3km in 37 minutes. We commanded its target speed and direction using a remote joystick controller (Steam Deck), and Ringbot experienced five falls during this trial.

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Perching with winged Unmanned Aerial Vehicles has often been solved by means of complex control or intricate appendages. Here, we present a method that relies on passive wing morphing for crash-landing on trees and other types of vertical poles. Inspired by the adaptability of animals’ and bats’ limbs in gripping and holding onto trees, we design dual-purpose wings that enable both aerial gliding and perching on poles. With an upturned nose design, the robot can passively reorient from horizontal flight to vertical upon a head-on crash with a pole, followed by hugging with its wings to perch. We characterize the performance of reorientation and perching in terms of impact speed and angle, pole material, and size. The robot robustly reorients at impact angles above 15° and speeds of 3 m⋅s−1 to 9 m⋅s−1, and can hold onto various pole types larger than 28% of its wingspan in diameter. We demonstrate crash-perching on tree trunks with an overall success rate of 73%. The method opens up new possibilities for the use of aerial robots in applications such as inspection, maintenance, and biodiversity conservation.

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