Yang SG, Lee DJ, Kim C, Jung GP. A Small-Scale Hopper Design Using a Power Spring-Based Linear Actuator.
Biomimetics (Basel) 2023;
8:339. [PMID:
37622944 PMCID:
PMC10452063 DOI:
10.3390/biomimetics8040339]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2023] [Revised: 07/24/2023] [Accepted: 07/31/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Hopping locomotion has the potential to enable small-scale robots to maneuver lands quickly while overcoming obstacles bigger than themselves. To make this possible, in this paper, we propose a novel design of a high-power linear actuator for a small-scale hopper. The key design principle of the linear actuator is to use a power spring and an active clutch. The power spring provides a near constant torque along the wide range of output displacement. The active clutch controls the moving direction and operation timing of the linear actuator, which enables the hopper to take off at the right timing. As a result, the hopper has a size of 143 mm, a mass of 45.9 g, and hops up to 0.58 m.
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