Experimental results of a novel amphibian solution for aquatic robot

摘要

Water, recognized as one of the most important and endangered resources to mankind, is very difficult to monitor in real time using conventional methods. Thanks to recent advancements in technology, the use of robots, able to fulfill missions such as sampling from aquatic environments, becomes feasible and can increase dramatically the quality of water monitoring. Due to the complications for the robot's movement in some aquatic scenarios, for instance, shallow waters or dry banks of rivers and lakes, amphibian locomotion appears to be necessary to guarantee a satisfying coverage of the monitoring activities in such areas. In this paper, we focus on developing a practical amphibian solution by introducing a pair of screw rotors, which rotate in opposite directions to generate locomotion on the ground. The primitive idea of this novel design is to enhance the versatility of a marine robot with a terrestrial locomotion without undermining its performance during the movements in the water. In particular, we elaborate the principle of this novel design and present some test results of a prototype on selected terrain types, which are similar to the target aquatic environment. We conclude the paper with some preliminary conclusions based on the analysis of the test results about effectiveness and efficiency issues.