International Journal of Scientific Research and Engineering Studies (IJSRES)

Volume 2 Issue 8, August 2015

ISSN: 2349-8862

Modelling And Simulation Of A Two Wheeled Reconnaissance

Jumping Robot

Vaibhav U. Vernekar

I. Sridhar

PG Student, Industrial Automation and Robotics,

Department of Mechanical Engineering,
SDM College of Engineering and Technology,
Dharwad, Karnataka, India

Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering,

SDM College of Engineering and technology,
Dharwad, Karnataka, India

Abstract: Depending upon the type of terrain and

application, robot motion varies from simple translatory
motion to complex motions like walking, jumping, climbing.
Jumping is a preferred mode over others when it comes to
crossing obstacles that are of a size larger than the robots
own body. It is better to jump over a terrain with irregular
surface, debris, ground cracks than climbing and crossing
over them. A new mechanism for increasing the usefulness
of ground robots in surveillance applications has been
proposed, which adds a jumping ability to the existing
wheeled motion. The operations of wheeled movement and
the jumping mechanism are independent of each other. The
configuration for a two wheeled jumping robot is defined,
the jumping mechanism is modelled and simulation studies
have been carried out. The factors affecting the jumping
height have been studied. This paper aims at modelling and
analysis of the motion mechanism to achieve continuous
jumping ability by the use of springs instead of other forms
of actuation.
Keywords: jumping, modelling, simulation, springs,
surveillance

I.

INTRODUCTION

Surveillance tasks which are generally performed by

trained dogs and humans in unsafe situations can be made
safer by the use of robots. In such places one can expect
constricted walkthroughs, irregular terrain and splintered
surfaces [1]. To explore such a situation a robot that will be
sent for surveillance has to be small and compact in size. A
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small sized robot may be able to make its way on a plain

surface, but in case it encounters any obstacle on account of
any debris, it cannot make its way around it due to its small
size. Hence the only way to cross such an obstruction is to
climb it or jump over it.
Jumping is a very effective means of overcoming
obstacles which are greater than ones own body size [2]. It is
a common activity in animals, to escape from the clutches of
their predators, reach higher grounds or sometimes use it as a
means of locomotion [3]. A wheeled robot has an advantage
over other types such as treaded or legged due to their steering
ability, relatively easy design, and motorized wheel
movement. It is a challenge to provide wheeled robots with
capabilities of overcoming unevenness while maintaining their
efficiency of running on flat grounds.
The sensors mounted on the robot make it self-guided i.e.
they can go in an unidentified and uncontrolled situation
without any supervision. Also there exists another category of
robots which can be steered to a labelled destination by
remotely controlling it. Such robots have an assorted field of
application. The control unit of these robots is with the
operator who is at a distance from the machine. The mode of
control is usually radio control. An embedded camera
wirelessly gives live feed of the field on the screen of the
operators remote control.

II. CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

A conceptual model of the jumping robot is shown in Fig
(1). The robot will be driven with two motorized wheels and a

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International Journal of Scientific Research and Engineering Studies (IJSRES)

Volume 2 Issue 8, August 2015
ISSN: 2349-8862
balancing tail which will provide the third point of contact.
The jumping action will be obtained with the aid of the tail.
The task is to tug the tail within the body of the robot,
preserving the normal reaction force with the ground and then
releasing it as it produces the energy to lift the robot body off
the ground.

Figure 1: Conceptual 3D model of the Jumping Robot

Existing methods to activate the tail on a wheeled robot
are winching mechanism[4][5] and pneumatics[6][7] .In
winching an additional actuator, required to hold the sheet in
a coiled state increases the power requirements and also adds
extra weight to the body of the robot. For pneumatics, the size
of the robot increases due to the compressor involved. Also
the number of firings that can be produced are limited. Any
drop in the pressure of compressed air will also lead to
malfunctioning of the jumping mechanism.
Considering the difficulties faced above, the proposed
system shall make use of compression springs. The tail will be
spring loaded. Concepts have been generated to provide best
fit for the defined problem.

B. SLOT PIN AND CRANK

A basic slider crank mechanism [8] is modified such that
the slider can achieve both forward and return strokes in half
rotation of the crank i.e.180 degrees instead of one complete
rotation.

Figure 3: Schematic representation of Slider

Crank Chain Mechanism
In Fig (3), Chassis is the Link 1, Crank is Link 2,
Connecting Rod is Link 3, and Jumping Fame is Link 4. The
links are connected by pins. Slot Pin represents the pin that
connects the Crank with the Chassis, Roller is the pin joining
the Crank and the Connecting Rod and Pin joins the
Connecting Rod with the Jumping Frame. Jumping action is
completed in ten stages as depicted in Fig (4). The slot pin is
the part in yellow and the Crank is the red coloured part.

A. RACK AND PINION MECHANISM

A rotational motion of the pinion gear gives a relative
translational motion in the rack gear. So a conversion of
rotational motion from the motor into linear motion of the
jumping frame is achieved. The spring will store energy and
once the pinion and rack are dis engaged, the spring energy
will be released providing a very high thrust to the robot body.

Figure 4: Modified Slider Crank engage-disengage

The position of both the Slot Pin as well as Crank has
to be monitored all the time. This increases the complexity of
the mechanism as both the members have to realign
themselves for a next successive jump.
C. SLOT PIN AND CRANK WITH AUTO RELOAD
For this concept, the Slot Pin remains stationary and the
crank has two slots on its periphery. The roller skates within
the Slot Pin and is collected at the other end by the crank. The
jumping sequence is depicted below in Fig (5). The number of
steps required for operating have been reduced to six.

Figure 2: Rack and Pinion to actuate the tail

Complications in implementing this concept were
engaging and dis-engaging the rack from the pinion. The
success of a consecutive jump depends upon whether the
pinion and rack have re-engaged or not. If re- engagement
fails, a successive jump may not be feasible.
Figure 5: Sequence of operation for jumping
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International Journal of Scientific Research and Engineering Studies (IJSRES)

Volume 2 Issue 8, August 2015
ISSN: 2349-8862
As roller traverses the periphery of the Slot Pin, the
springs mounted on the green part of the frame get
compressed gradually. When the crank rotates 180 degrees
roller comes in line with the slot pin and skates in the slot. The
roller is collected at the other end by the crank, springs are
released, and the robot makes a jump due to the resulting force
from the springs.
This mechanism is more convenient to implement than
the other two mentioned before. Also it has an auto reload
feature; the roller connected to the jumping frame is gathered
by the crank for a successive jump. Only a single actuator is
sufficient for the entire process. Hence this concept has been
selected.

III. DETAILED DESIGN

Slot Pin for Crank is a disc with a slit providing guideway for the Roller. It connects the Crank to the Chassis. The
Crank is tailored to rotate about the axis of Slot Pin. The
Roller links the Crank and the Connecting Rod and slides in
the slot Pin due to the spring force when the Crank is rotated
to compress the spring. The Connecting Rod is connected to
the Jumping Frame by a Pin. Jumping Frame is constrained to
have reciprocating motion by the guide-ways provided on the
chassis. Refer fig (6).

instantaneously and the resulting reactive thrust propels the

robot.
Two compression springs are mounted on the Guide
Rods. Material used for the spring is Chrome Silicon Steel.
The value of the stiffness constant k for each spring is
derieved to be 2 N/mm using the relation below;

(1)
where G is Shear Modulus of the Material, d is Wire
Diameter, D is Mean Coil Diameter, and N is Number of
Coils.
The force exerted by each of the springs when the
compressed energy is released due sliding of the roller in the
slotted pin is given by the Spring Force Equation;
. (2)
The compression length x (mm) of the spring calculated
as;
.(3)
Free length of the spring is 92 mm and the compressed
length is 42 mm. Therefore the calculated value of x is 50 mm.
Using (1), (2), (3) the force exerted is 100 N.
A winding motor will be used to rotate the crank against
the spring forces. The torque requirement for the motor is
given by;
=rXF
. (4)
The torque value for F=200N and r =20 mm (Radius of
the Slot Pin) is calculated to be 4 N-m, which can be attained
by using a dc motor with a suitable gear train.

Figure 6: Slot Pin and Crank with Auto Reload

To actuate the jumping motion, crank is driven by a DC
motor. The gear teeth on the periphery of the crank provide a
gear train, Fig (7) and reduce the torque requirement on the
DC motor.
Figure 8: Rendered Model
IV. DESIGN ANALYSIS USING FINITE ELEMENT
ANALYSIS
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is used to validate the
design of the robot and is carried out considering the critical
loading condition when the frame of the robot makes an
impact with the ground just before the jump. Static analysis is
used to calculate displacement, strains and stresses under the
applied loads on critical parts of the robot.
The robot is tested against a free fall height of 3 metres.
The total mass (m) of the robot is 838 grams. The velocity of a
free falling body is given by (5);

Figure 7: Mounting the motor

Jumping action is achieved by the release of energy from
the compressed springs, which shoots the jumping frame
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. (5)

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International Journal of Scientific Research and Engineering Studies (IJSRES)

Volume 2 Issue 8, August 2015
ISSN: 2349-8862
where h is the free fall height , g is the acceleration due to
gravity and v is the final velocity achieved.
The kinetic energy associated with this velocity is given
as;

The parts will be made of Low Density ABS plastic

having a tensile strength of 30 MPa. The FEA results are
shown in Fig.(9),(10),(11) and summarized in table below;

(6)
The impact force is given by;
(7)
Where Di is the distance travelled by the body after
impact. The value for Di is 10 cm. The velocity of the body is
calculated to be 7.67 m/s, the corresponding kinetic energy
associated is 24.65 J and hence the impact force is 246.5 N.
Considering a load correction factor of 1.2 to account for
uncertainties, the impact force is modified as;
(8)
The impact force considering a correction factor of 1.2 is
now 296 N. This value is used for the Finite Element Analysis.

Table 1: Results from the FEA

V. SIMULATION STUDY
The analysis has been carried out in ADAMS multi-body
dynamics and motion analysis software.
The jumping
action is related to the speed of the crank of the
jumping mechanism. To determine the appropriate speed of
the crank, simulation was carried out at different crank
speeds. Stable jumps were observed at lower crank rotation
speed of 6 rpm.

Figure 9: Stress Distribution in the Jumping Frame

Figure 12: Simulation Run

Simulation results show that a total jump height 28 cm is
achieved, on using a spring with stiffness constant 2 N/mm.
The horizontal travel distance covered was 55 cm.

Figure 10: Stress distribution in the Chassis

Figure 13: Jump Height of the robot

Figure 11: Stress in the Connecting Rod

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International Journal of Scientific Research and Engineering Studies (IJSRES)

Volume 2 Issue 8, August 2015
ISSN: 2349-8862
VI. CONCLUSION
A Single Slider Crank Mechanism has been used with
modifications to design the jumping mechanism for a two
wheeled robot. Lesser the weight, easier it is to propel the
robot in the air. Hence a very strong emphasis is laid on
weight reduction. The simulation studies show that the robot
can jump 28 cm high. The robot is self-righting and will land
on its wheels after a jump.
Figure 14: Spring Deformation
REFERENCES

Figure 15: Force required to compress the spring

Figure 16: Motor Torque

These results have been achieved for a launch angle of 65
degrees with respect to the ground. On increasing the angle of
inclination and the stiffness constant of the spring, the
magnitude of jump height can be increased. But with increase
in elevation, balancing the robot on an inclined surface
becomes difficult. Chances of the robot tumbling increase
significantly. Increasing the stiffness constant leads to
requirement of more torque to wind the crank. The resulting
impact force on the jumping frame from the springs is high
and can damage the same.

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[1] Wei Dunwen, Ge Wenjie, Liu Yiyang, The Concept of a

Jumping Rescue Robot with Variable Transmission
Mechanism, IEEE International Symposium on Safety,
Security and Rescue Robotics, Kyoto, Japan, November
1-5 2011, Pg. 99-104.
[2] Hongbo Wang et al, Design and Analysis of a Hybrid
Two-wheel-hopping Robot, International Conference on
Advanced Mechatronic Systems, Luoyang, China,
September 25-27, 2013, Pg. 363-368.
[3] N. S. Reddy, Ranjit Ray, S.N. Shome, Modelling and
Simulation of a Jumping Frog Robot, IEEE International
Conference on Mechatronics and Automation August 7 10, Beijing, China, Pg. 1264 -1268.
[4] Dean F. Hougen et al, Miniature Robotic System for
reconnaissance and Surveillance, Centre for Distributed
Robotics and Dept. of Computer Science and
Engineering, University of Minnesota
[5] Sascha A. Stoeter et al, Autonomous Stair-Hopping with
Scout Robots System for reconnaissance and
Surveillance, Centre for Distributed Robotics and Dept.
of Computer Science and Engineering, University of
Minnesota
[6] Hideyuki Tsukagoshi, Masashi Sasaki, Ato Kitagawa and
Takahiro Tanaka, Design of a Higher Jumping Rescue
Robot with the Optimized Pneumatic Drive,
International Conference on Robotics and Automation,
Barcelona, Spain, April 2005, Pg.1276 -1283
[7] Hideyuki Tsukagoshi, Masashi Sasaki, Ato Kitagawa and
Takahiro Tanaka, Jumping Robot for Rescue Operation
with Excellent Traverse Ability IEEE 2005, Pg 841-848.
[8] Details
on
slider
crank
mechanism;
http://ocw.metu.edu.tr/pluginfile.php/6467/mod_resource/
content/6/ch7/7-2.htm

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