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  4. A Soft Robot for Random Exploration of Terrestrial Environments
 
conference paper

A Soft Robot for Random Exploration of Terrestrial Environments

Mintchev, Stefano  
•
Zappetti, Davide  
•
Willemin, Jeremie
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June 15, 2018
Ieee International Conference On Robotics And Automation (Icra)
International Conference on Robotics and Automation

A swarm of randomly moving miniature robots is an effective solution for the exploration of unknown terrains. However, the deployment of a swarm of miniature robots poses two challenges: finding an adequate locomotion strategy for fast exploration and obstacles negotiation; and implementing simple design and control solutions suited for mass manufacturing. Here, we tackle these challenges by developing a new soft robot with a minimalistic design and a simple control strategy that can randomly propel itself above obstacles and roll on the ground upon landing. The robot is equipped with two propellers that are periodically activated to jump, a soft cage that protects the robot from impacts and allows to passively roll on the ground, and a passive self-righting mechanism for repetitive jumps. The minimalistic control and design reduce the complexity of the mechanics and electronics and are instrumental to the production of a large number of robots. In the paper, the key design aspects of the robot are discussed, the locomotion of a single prototype is experimentally characterized, and improvements of the system for future swarm operations are discussed.

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Type
conference paper
DOI
10.1109/ICRA.2018.8460667
Author(s)
Mintchev, Stefano  
Zappetti, Davide  
Willemin, Jeremie
Floreano, Dario  
Date Issued

2018-06-15

Publisher

IEEE

Published in
Ieee International Conference On Robotics And Automation (Icra)
ISBN of the book

978-1-5386-3081-5

Series title/Series vol.

IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation ICRA

Start page

7492

End page

7497

Subjects

tensegrity

•

Soft robotics

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
NCCR-ROBOTICS  
LIS  
Event nameEvent placeEvent date
International Conference on Robotics and Automation

Brisbane, Australia

21-25 May 2018

Available on Infoscience
June 15, 2018
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/146872
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