Mechanical design of six-legged walking robot, Little Crabster

Abstract

This paper describes the mechanical design of a six-legged walking robot named Little Crabster as a ground test platform of an underwater walking robot. First, the dimensions, joint structure, range of motion, and mass distribution of the robot are determined by considering biological data of the crabs, lobsters, and insects. Second, the joint actuators including motors and reduction gears are chosen through the simple force analysis. Third, the two types of the joint mechanism are established for the detailed design. Finally, the 2D design is performed using AutoCAD which is a commercial CAD software. The detailed design features are addressed in this paper.