Design and Analysis of a Flying-crawling Spherical Robot for Multi-mode Movement

A novel spherical robot named flying-crawling spherical robot is designed in this paper. It can fly or roll on ground with its single rotor and eight tail fins. When its limbs stretch out it can crawl on the supporting surface. Besides, with its limbs the robot can realize carrying objects, landing on uneven ground and walking on the supporting surface. Dynamic model of the robot in flight mode is established and the motion characteristics are analyzed. A PID control system is designed to enable the robot to achieve stable flight. Trot gait planning of the robot is given and a PID controller is designed for tail fins assistant in crawling mode. Corresponding simulations are carried out and the simulation results verify the proposed methods.