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A Three-row Opposed Gripping Mechanism with Bioinspired Spiny Toes for Wall-climbing Robots

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Abstract

This paper presents a study of a three-row opposed gripping mechanism made of bioinspired spiny toes. An insect Serica orientalis Motschulsky’s tarsal system was first described and studied. A compliant single spiny toe model was established assuming that the contact asperities were spheres. Following the single toe contact model, a spiny toe array’s contact model was then developed using asperity height’s distribution function. By studying the engaging and disengaging process of the single toe, the mechanical behavior of the toe and toe array were addressed. The toes as well as the arrays were manufactured via rapid prototyping. A customized apparatus using displacement-control method has been carried out to measure the pull-in forces and pull-off positions of the single toe and toe array under various compression conditions. Based on the understanding, a three-row opposed gripping mechanism with radial configuration for wall-climbing robots was designed and fabricated according to the mechanical behaviors of the toe and array. Using an opposed spoke configuration with 3 rows of 31 toes on each linkage array, the mechanism designed as a foot of climbing robots can vertically resist at least 1 kg of load on rough inverted surface, while the maximum normal load is as high as 31 N. The findings may provide a way in developing a high payload wall-climbing robot system for practical applications.

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51605467) and the Changzhou Key Laboratory of High Technology (Grant No. CM20183004). The authors would like to thank Dr. Yanwei Liu from Xi’an University of Technology for technical discussion, and Anthony Wang from Boston College for editing and proofreading the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changzhou, 213164, China

    Chao Xie, Xuan Wu & Xiaojie Wang

  2. Department of Precision Machinery and Precision Instrumentation, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Chao Xie

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  1. Chao Xie
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  2. Xuan Wu
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  3. Xiaojie Wang
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Correspondence to Xiaojie Wang.

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Xie, C., Wu, X. & Wang, X. A Three-row Opposed Gripping Mechanism with Bioinspired Spiny Toes for Wall-climbing Robots. J Bionic Eng 16, 994–1006 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-019-0112-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-019-0112-6

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