Implementation of a mobile spherical robot with shape-changed inflatable structures

Abstract

We are currently building a big robot (ca. 2m height) that has the shape of a sphere. The robot can be controlled by transforming its shape and thus can move. The structure of the spherical robot has several inflatable sections around the sphere and a pneumatic system inside to control the air pressure of each section. In the static state, the section towards the ground is deflated. Thus, the robot stays at the same position. When the robot shall move forward, the above-mentioned section is inflated while the neighboring section towards the intended direction is deflated. In this way, the robot rolls towards the next section and moves to the particular direction. Due to their design, the robots are very fluffy and light-weighted. Thus, using them in human environment appears to be very safe in spite of their size. So the robot can be used for outdoor surveillance. In parks and also road-works in order to warn traffic. As a beginning to this topic, we implement a model of smaller size.