Development of a rimless wheel robot with telescopic legs for step adaptability

Abstract

In this study, we developed a rimless wheel robot with elastic telescopic legs that can overcome steps. Numerical studies have shown that a rimless wheel robot with elastic telescopic legs has high adaptability to steps. However, rimless wheel robots that can walk in environments with steps have not yet been developed. To develop a rimless wheel robot that could overcome the steps, we initially developed a three-dimensional model of the robot through Unity software and simulated its walking on level ground and surfaces with steps. Then, we determined the optimal elasticity of the elastic telescopic legs through numerical simulation and constructed a model with optimized parameters. Finally, we conducted the walking experiments employing the developed robot. The robot can walk on level ground and surfaces with steps.