Design and testing of FERVOR: FlexiblE and reconfigurable voxel-based robot

Abstract

We propose a flexible, reconfigurable robot which achieves rectilinear locomotion by coupling structural deformation and directional friction promoting a locomotion strategy ideal for traversing narrow channels. The robot uses two linear actuators to generate structural waves, which propagate through the robot lifting and changing the direction of motion of the contact points (feet) between the robot and ground. The reconfigurations of the robot allow different structural waveforms to alter the robot's gait. The paper describes the modular lattice structure used to build the robot; the finite element modeling approach used to understand the structural deformation induced by the linear actuators as well as the experimental validation of the prototype robot.