Abstract
Inspired by the movement of duck that is able to move on land and water utilizing its webbed feet, a novel design of an amphibious robot has been presented in this paper. In contrary, the orthodox design of amphibious robot utilizes the tracks or wheels on land and switches to the propeller to move in water. The proposed design employs same propulsion system as webbed feet to move on land and water. After studying the movement of the duck underwater, a conclusion has been drawn that it is swimming in the water by moving its webbed feet back and forth to generate force to push its body forward. Recreating this phenomenon of duck movement, hybrid robot locomotion has been designed and developed which is able to walk, swim and climb steps using the same propulsion system. Moreover, webbed feet would be able to walk efficiently on muddy, icy or sandy terrain due to uneven distribution of robot weight on the feet. To be able to justify the feasibility of the design, simulations are being carried out using SimulationXpress of the SOLIDWORKS software.
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Saad Kashem received the B. Sc. degree in electrical and electronic engineering from East West University, Bangladesh in 2009, and received the Ph.D. degree from Swinburne University of Technology (SUT), Australia in 2013. At present, he is with Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Science in Swinburne University of Technology Sarawakak, Malaysia. He has over six years experience in both industry and academia. He is a professional member of Institution of Engineering and Technology, UK (IET), Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, and International Association of Engineers (IAENG). He is editor & reviewer of many national & international reputed Journals & Conferences. He is with Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Science in Swinburne University of Technology, Malaysia.
His research interests include vehicle dynamic, electric vehicle, renewable energy systems, intelligent and autonomous control, robotics, nonlinear control theory and applications.
Hutomo Sufyan is a student of Bachelor of Engineering (B. Eng.) in the Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Science in Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak, Malaysia. He is a member of Robotics and Automation Club Indonesian Student Community.
His research interests include mechatronics, robotics and automation engineering.
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Kashem, S., Sufyan, H. A novel design of an aquatic walking robot having webbed feet. Int. J. Autom. Comput. 14, 576–588 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11633-017-1075-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11633-017-1075-x