Kinematic simulator for an insect-like robot

Abstract

The developed simulator is a graphical, flexible, interactive, and systematic tool to aid the user to preview predetermined movements in an insect-like robot using direct kinematics and the Denavit-Hartenberg representation. The basic concept of the simulator is that it calculates the current configuration of the robot given several articulation values that vary with time. The final movement of the robot is obtained through a cubic spline interpolation to smooth the way in which the robot "walks". An extra module is included for a basic dynamical analysis (Lagrange-Euler algorithm), so the forces or torques required to move each articulation are also calculated; these computations consider the robot is "floating", the base of the robot carries the weight of the legs, and each of these carries the consecutive ones.