A Survey of Bioinspired Jumping Robot: Takeoff, Air Posture Adjustment, and Landing Buffer

Abstract

A bioinspired jumping robot has a strong ability to overcome obstacles. It can be applied to the occasion with complex and changeable environment, such as detection of planet surface, postdisaster relief, and military reconnaissance. So the bioinspired jumping robot has broad application prospect. The jumping process of the robot can be divided into three stages: takeoff, air posture adjustment, and landing buffer. The motivation of this review is to investigate the research results of the most published bioinspired jumping robots for these three stages. Then, the movement performance of the bioinspired jumping robots is analyzed and compared quantitatively. Then, the limitation of the research on bioinspired jumping robots is discussed, such as the research on the mechanism of biological motion is not thorough enough, the research method about structural design, material applications, and control are still traditional, and energy utilization is low, which make the robots far from practical applications. Finally, the development trend is summarized. This review provides a reference for further research of bioinspired jumping robots.

Figure 1

Jumping robot Mowgli [30].

Figure 2

Kangaroo jumping robot designed by FESTO [31].

Figure 3

Jumping robot designed by NASA. (a) Schematic diagram of a 6-bar geared mechanism; (b) jumping robot in compressed state; (c) jumping robot in uncompressed state [32].

Figure 4

Jumping robot Uniroo [14, 35].

Figure 5

Jumping robot KenKen [36].

Figure 6

Jumping robot Chobino1D [38].

Figure 7

Jumping robot Grillo [39].

Figure 8

Jumping robot Grillo III [43].

Figure 9

Locust-like jumping robot [44].

Figure 10

Micro jumping robot [45].

Figure 11

Autonomous 23 g miniature jumping robot. (a) 3D model; (b) prototype [46].

Figure 12

Fabricated water-jumping robot [47].

Figure 13

Bioinspired jumping kangaroo robot designed by National Taiwan University [48].

Figure 14

Two prototypes of flea-inspired jumping mechanism. (a) First generation prototype [2]; (b) second generation prototype [50].

Figure 15

Insect size micro jumping robot with bilateral jumping leg structure. (a) The prototype of jumping robot [51]; (b) takeoff process of jumping robot [51]; (c) prototype of the micro jumping robot [52]; (d) the triggering procedure of the flea-inspired catapult mechanism [52].

Figure 16

Biowater strider jumping robot. (a) Round shape leg; (b) square shape leg [53].

Figure 17

Froghopper-inspired direction-changing mechanism. (a) Initial positions for an upward jump; (b) initial positions for a rightward jump; (c) initial positions for a leftward jump [54].

Figure 18

Jumping and gliding robot [73].

Figure 19

Miniature-tailed jumping robot [74].

Figure 20

Robot with a one-DOF tail. (a) Robot prototype; (b) posture adjustment process [75].

Figure 21

Robot with a two-DOF tail. (a) Robot prototype; (b) Posture adjustment process [76].

Figure 22

Jerboa robot with a two-DOF tail [77].

Figure 23

EPFL jumpglider [78].

Figure 24

Locust air-posture righting robot [80].

Figure 25

Leg operation of KenKen during one stride of hopping [36].

Figure 26

Jumping robot Jollbot [91].

Figure 27

Stable jump process [94].

Figure 28

Biokangaroo jumping robot and jump sequence. (a) Prototype of the jumping robot; (b) landing stance of the robot [95].

Figure 29

Three leg structure models of buffering legs. (a) Structure of a bionic buffering leg; (b) structure of a multiconstraint buffering leg; (c) structure of an arc buffering leg [34].

Figure 30

Two buffering processes of a locust. (a) Buffering process with ends of legs fixed; (b) buffering process with ends of legs sliding [17].

Figure 31

Self-righting process of a jumping robot designed by Zhang et al. [16].

Figure 32

Self-righting process of a jumping robot designed by Zhao et al. [99].