BJR: A bipedal jumping robot using double-acting pneumatic cylinders and torsion springs

Abstract

This paper presents a biped jumping robot "BJR", in which double-acting cylinders and torsion springs are used as the power units. BJR has two 3-DOF serial actuated legs, and each leg has a hip, a knee and an ankle joint. We conducted a dynamic simulation of jumping for BJR. Physical experiments were performed, in which the real robot jumped onto a chair. The experimental results show that the real jumping behaviours of BJR matches well with the simulation ones. BJR can jump as high as 0.5m, which is more than 50% of its body height. It is highly effective and feasible to utilize the collaborative role between double-acting cylinder and the torsion spring as the power element in the design of jumping robots.