Design of a Wheel-Legged Hexapod Robot for Creative Adaptation

Jean-Marie Jehanno (1) , Antoine Cully (1) , Christophe Grand (1) , Jean-Baptiste Mouret (1)

1 ISIR - Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique

Thanks to recent advances in adaptation algorithms, it is now possible to give robots the ability to discover by trial-and-error the best way to behave in unexpected situations, instead of relying on contingency plans. In this paper, we describe the kinematic and mechatronic design of the Creadapt robot, a new mobile robot designed to take full advantage of these recent adaptation algorithms. This robot is a versatile wheel-legged hexapod designed for both legged and wheeled locomotion. It is reversible to be able to continue its mission if it flips over and it uses 6 legs to be able to move efficiently if one or several legs break. This robot also embeds two RGB-D cameras to estimate its velocity onboard, thanks to a RGB-D visual odometry algorithm. Overall, the Creadapt robot is one of the first mobile robot designed with adaptation algorithms in mind.

Domaines: Robotique [cs.RO]

Jean-Marie Jehanno, Antoine Cully, Christophe Grand, Jean-Baptiste Mouret. Design of a Wheel-Legged Hexapod Robot for Creative Adaptation. CLAWAR 17th International Conference on Climbing and Walking Robots, Jul 2014, Poznan, Poland. pp.267-276. ⟨hal-01300701⟩