Jumping robots are being developed using a variety of methods, such as springs, compressed air, andelastic strips. We present a new robotic platform called Pol-E, which can jump using an elastic link based on theprinciple of pole vaulting and energy conservation theory. Wheeled locomotion is used to build up energy withoutadditional actuators for jumping. Kinetic energy generated by moving on the ground is converted into elastic andpotential energy by colliding with an obstacle through the elastic link. We modeled the dynamics as run-up, stance,and flight phases to predict the influences of design variables for the robot through a sensitivity analysis. Thesensitivity analysis examined the initial velocity, stiffness of the elastic link, and the initial angle between the elasticlink and the ground. Based on the results, we selected the best values for overcoming an obstacle. The prototypesuccessfully jumped over an obstacle with a height of 0.18m, about 3 times the robot size. We expect the proposedrobot platform to be applied to inspection, environmental monitoring, and search and rescue.
KCI
