Microgravity hopping robot with controlled hopping and landing capability

Abstract

This paper proposes a hopping robot that can move in a microgravity environment. The robot consists of three masses, which are connected by a spring and linear actuators. Using the spring and the linear actuators, the robot can obtain the vertical velocity and the horizontal velocity. Therefore, the robot can hop with the horizontal velocity from the stationary state. Furthermore, the robot can land without bounding and the slipping by transforming the kinetic energy to the elastic energy. Using this approach for controlling hopping and landing, the robot can move to a target in a microgravity environment. The simulation studies and the microgravity experiments shows the effectiveness of the proposed mobility.