Intelligent Rock-Climbing Robot Capable of Multimodal Locomotion and Hybrid Bioinspired Attachment

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Bioinspired Engineering
• Planetary Exploration

Background:

• Current rock-climbing robots lack stability, adaptability, and multimodal functionality for extreme environments.
• Limitations include slow locomotion and single-purpose designs, hindering fieldwork and exploration.
• Bioinspiration offers solutions for enhanced robotic capabilities in challenging terrains.

Purpose of the Study:

• Introduce a novel multimodal and adaptive rock-climbing robot (MARCBot).
• Address limitations of current robots in stability, adaptability, locomotion speed, and functionality.
• Develop a bioinspired design for robust performance in extreme environments.

Main Methods:

• Designed MARCBot with spiny grippers inspired by beetles, birds, and hoofed animals.
• Implemented a novel control strategy using dynamics and quadratic programming (QP) for attachment wrench optimization.
• Evaluated climbing and trotting speeds on vertical rock and complex terrains.

Main Results:

• MARCBot demonstrates high attachment strength and passive adaptability to diverse terrains.
• Achieved climbing speeds of 0.15 m/min and trotting speeds up to 0.21 m/s.
• Reduced cost-of-transport by 20.03% (vs. CLIK) and 6.05% (vs. VMC).

Conclusions:

• MARCBot is the first robot capable of both rock climbing and complex terrain trotting without end-effector switching.
• The bioinspired design significantly advances multimodal locomotion for robots in extreme environments.
• This work paves the way for more capable robots in planetary exploration and fieldwork.