M.

Tech Dissertation
Work

Design, Simulation, Fabrication

and Planning of Bio-Inspired
Quadruped Robot

Anand Mishra, M-Tech. (Mechatronics)

Under the Guidance of
Dr. Atul Thakur
Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering )

Indian Institute of Technology Patna

Content

Motivation
Related work
Research objective
Scope of research
Approach
Conclusion
Future work

Motivation
Wheeled robot can not access all
type of terrains
Larger fraction of earth being
accessible to legged creatures
Nature evolved it over millions
of the years
Terrestrial, aquatic and aerial
locomotion are available on
earth

Roboticist took inspiration from nature

http://travelsinmacahel.blogspot.in/2010/08/meeting-up-with-our-muleteers-and-onto.html

Reptile

Mammal

Continued
Terrestrial locomotion can be mainly categorize in
mammalian, reptilian and insect inspired
Reptilian inspired robot have lower speed and
higher stability
Mammalian inspired robot have higher speed and
lower stability

Terrestrial locomotion based animals

My work focuses on Mammalian and Reptilian

http://visual.merriam-webster.com/animal-kingdom/ungulate-mammals/examples-ungulate-mammals_1.php

Challenges

Bio-inspiration vs Bio mimicry

Compliant structure
Quadruped robots for highly rugged terrains
Handling obstacles
Getting vibrations
Vibration
Dynamic stability

Dynamics stability and compliant structure is challenge

Applications
Alligator inspired robot
as amphibious robots
Clean harmful garbage
Mine exploration
Forest and underwater
exploration
Carry load for civilians
and military purposes

Explorations and mobile surveillance

http://gajitz.com/robot-crab-can-fight-tough-waves-find-hidden-treasures/

Related Works

ELIRO-II (courtesy to Kyungpook

National University)

BigDog (courtesy to Boston

Dynamics)

KOLT robot (courtesy to bio-robotics

lab Stanford and Ohio University)

KenKen II (courtesy to biorobotics lab Tohoku

University)

Scout robot (courtesy to CIM lab,

McGill University)

Tekken II (courtesy to
Professor Hiroshi
Kimura and group)

Salamander robot (courtesy

to Bio robotics lab, EPFL)

2015

2010

2005

2000

1995

1990

1985

1980

1975

Research Objective
Design and fabricate an
quadruped robot based on
Alligator
Mule
Simulation based design
optimization of robot
Implement gaits

Design
Modeling
Simulation
Fabrication
Planning

My research focuses on design and fabrication and planning methodology

of the quadruped robots

Scope of Research
Alligator inspired robot with 8 DOF
Mammal inspired robot with 12 DOF
Multibody dynamics (MBD) and Finite element
analysis(FEA) simulation
Robot fabrication using 3D printer and laser
cutting machine
Implementation of trot, crawl and bound gaits

Developed Mammalian and reptilian inspired robot

Approach
Bio-inspiration

Design
Planning

CAD modeling
Design
optimization
Modeling

Simulation

Kinematic modeling
Dynamic modeling
MBD simulation
FEA simulation

Control
Gait
Planning

Assembly
Fabrication

Robot

Manufacturing

Design
Design of robot is based on the
multidisciplinary approach
Modular design of robot
Alligator inspired robot leg has 2
DOF
Mammalian inspired robot leg
has 3 DOF

Bio-inspiration
CAD modeling

BiologicalInspiration
leg links =5 Body length of robot =26 cm
Thickness of mm

0.38 BL
0.38 BL
Vivian Allen et. al, 2009

Type of limb and segments of alligators leg

Design inspiration

Scaled legged of alligator-inspired robot on body length

Mammalian inspired

CAD Modeling

Pro/E Model

Kinematic and Dynamic

Modeling
Kinematic modeling
Dynamic modeling

Frame assignment of the alligator-inspired robot

S.N
1

Twist angle
0

90

Link length
0
l1
l2

Link offset
0
d1
d2

Joint angle

1
2
0

Analyze D-H parameters

on RoboAnalyzer

Continued
D-H parameters are used for forward kinematics
Leg positions are function of hip and knee angles

Continued
After forward kinematic modeling, the torque
equations are derived

, M is mass matrix, V is centrifugal and Coriolis

force matrix, G is gravity force matrix.

Simulation
Simulation is performed
mammalian and reptilian inspired
robot
For MBD simulation is done by
interfacing the Adams with Matlab
Material property is same as actual
P controller for robot motion
FEA analysis has been done using
Adams flex, Nastran and Patran

MBD simulation

FEA simulation

Control Methodology for

Simulation
Velocity
Jacobian
Matrix

Linear velocity

Angular velocity
(I/P)

Robot Joint

Controller

e
Desired
position

Angular position
(O/P)

Control strategy for quadruped simulation

Simulation for Crawl Gait

3/ 4

2
3
1
4
0

Leg number convection

1
4

1
2

3
4

Continued

Simulation for Trot Gait

1
2

3
2
4
1
0

1
4

1
2

3
4

Continued

FEA Simulation
FEA simulation is done for leg and body part of
the robot
Factor of safety(FOS) achieved for legs of the
robot is 2.22 for selected materials

Fabrication Techniques
Two fabrication methods are used
Rapid prototyping
Laser cutting
CO2 laser cutting is fast method
fabrication while Rapid Prototyping
is very slow
Time taking operation from RP is 20
hr(for all legs fabrication)
Laser cutting machine takes very
less time (all parts fabrication time
is <.5hr)
High strength material are available
Laser cutting is mostly used for fabrication

UPrint plus 3d printer

VLS 3.2 laser cutting

Fabricated Parts
Leg

Servo coupling

Assembled Knee leg

Front body

Assembled Hip leg

Assembled body

RP fabricated leg

Specifications
S.
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
14

Characteristics

Value

Mrobot
Mservo+ MArduino + Mbattery
Mul, Mul - Mservo
Mll, Mll - Mservo
Width
Length
Limb length
Distance from front hip joint to front of robot
Distance from back hip joint to front of robot
Centroid coordinate
Hip height from ground
Maximum speed Vmax
Speed in Body length per second, BL/s
Spring stiffness
Gait

700g
445g
25 g, 25 g
25 g, 25 g
100 mm
260 mm
100 mm
40 mm
40 mm
(50,130,-110)mm
100 mm
0.135m/s
0.51BL/s
3940 N/m
Trot , crawl

Fabrication
Assembly

Assembled Robot

Assembled robot


Arduino Shield

Developed shield

Circuit is designed in Proteus software

Arduino board

Motion Control
Hip ServoLF

Leg-2

Hip ServoRF

Knee
Servo-LF

Knee ServoRF

Leg-1

Arduino
Shield
Leg-4

Hip ServoLR

Hip ServoRR

Knee
Servo-LR

Knee ServoRR

Arduin
o

Leg-3

Control Architecture
3-layered control
architecture has been
employed
Servo angles have been
used to control the
surge, sway and yaw of
alligator via change in
hip yaw and knee
roll angles

Control
Gait
Planning

Trot Gait Algorithm for

Developed Robotic Platform
Body move

Start

Power
is on ?

Lift leg 1,4

Stop

Lift leg 2,3

Body move

Leg number convection

Alligator Robot

Experimental Study
Simulation based experiments
Speed vs Leg ratio
Speed(BL/sec)

Area vs Leg ratio

990

0.7
0.6
Support polygon area (cm2)

940

0.5
890

0.4
0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9

0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6

1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6

Leg ratio

Leg ratio

Real robot based experiments

leg links =5 Body length of robot =26 cm

Thickness of mm

0.6
0.5
0.4
Speed (BL/sec)

0.3
0.2
0.1

0.38 BL
0.38 BL

0
5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Hip Angle Amplitude(Deg)

45

50

Mammalian Inspired
Robot
Work has been done at Center for
Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
(CAIR-Bangalore)
Same work approach was adapted
3 DOF leg one roll and two pitch
motion
Crawl, Trot and Bound gait was
implemented on actual and
simulation

Continued
Speed achieved by the robot was 1.2 BL/sec
Control of robot was based master and slave card
and CAN bus and serial communication
Developed joint to connect motor with leg

Courtesy to CAIR

Gait Implementation

Stability Margin Algorithm

Dynamic Simulation

Motion Control
Work has been done
using PIC series control
Motion control is based
on the servo loop and
trajectory loop
High geared motion is
used
Motor was consist of
encoder

Single axis motion control hardware

Real Robot Demonstration

Conclusion
Work describes the design and fabrication of
Alligator-inspired
Mammal-inspired
We used CO2 laser cutting machine for fabrication
Gait plan is based on high walk gait pattern
Efficient, controlled and guided for flat terrains of
different nature
Maximum achieved speed in simulation .67and
actual .51

2020

2015

2010

2005

2000

1995

1990

1985

1980

1975

Speed-.51,FOS-2.2
Indias first alligatorinspired Quadruped

Future Work
Use of compliant joints in
future to optimize the design
and improve functionality
Efficient Energy, speed and
stability analysis for different
terrains
Dynamic stability analysis and
simulation
Free gait algorithms is needs to
done for highly rugged terrains
Design modification of alligator
inspired robot to achieve more
than 1 BL/sec speed

References
S. Shriyam, A. Mishra, D. Nayak and A. Thakur,Design, Fabrication and Gait Planning of
Alligator-inspired Robot International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, 2014,
567-575, 2277 - 4106
Kouno, Kentarou, H.Yamada, and S. Hirose, "Development of Active-Joint Active-Wheel High
Traversability Snake-Like Robot ACM-R4. 2." Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics 25, 2013,
no. 3 559-566.
3D Printing or Laser Cutting, Pursuit of Unorthodox Ideas, [online] 2013.
http://unorthodoxideas.blogspot.in/2013/06/3d-printingor-laser-cutting.html (Accessed: 12 July
2013).
http://www.thomasnet.com/articles/custommanufacturing-fabricating/laser-cutting-waterjetcutting, (Accessed: 21 September 2013).
Open Source Robotic Crocodile Assembly Video, Youtube, [online] 2012.
Y. Shumei, S. Ma, B. Li, and Y. Wang, "An amphibious snake-like robot with terrestrial and
aquatic gaits." In Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2011 IEEE International Conference on,
2011, pp. 2960-2961.
P. Gonzalez , E. Garcia and J. Estremera, Quadrupedal Locomotion An Introduction to the
Control of Four legged Robots by Springer-Verlag London Limited 2006.
K. Williams, Amphibionics: Build Your Own Reptilian Robot McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York, NY,
USA, 2003, pp. 191-269.
B. Webb, T. Consilvio, Biorobotics 2001Mit Press.
F.E. Fish, P.B. Frappell, R. V. Baudinette, P.M. Macfarlane, Energetics of Terrestrial Locomotion
of the Platypus Ornithorhynchus Anatinus, The Journal of Experimental Biology, 2001, 204,
797803.
M.H. Raibert, Legged Robots That Balance MIT Press, 1986

Publications from Thesis

Published Paper
S. Shriyam, A. Mishra, D. Nayak and A. Thakur Design,
Fabrication and Gait Planning of Alligator-inspired Robot
International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology,
2014, 567-575, 2277 - 4106
Accepted abstract
A. Mishra and A. Thakur, Multidisciplinary Design Approach
and Fabrication of Alligator-Inspired Robot in 5 th International &
26th All India Manufacturing Technology, Design and Research
(AIMTDR-2014), IIT Guahati, India 12-14 Dec 2014.
Poster Presented
A. Mishra, A. Thakur, Multidisciplinary Design Approach and
Fabrication of Alligator-Inspired Robot, Poster Presentation,
Research Scholar Day, IIT Patna, India, 8th March, 2014

Acknowledgement
I would to thank to IIT Patna
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my
thesis advisor Dr. Atul Thakur.
Besides my advisor, I would like to thank the DPPC;
DR. Mayank Tiwari, Dr. Karali Patra, Dr. Somnath
Roy Dr. M.K. Khan and Dr. Manbendra Pathak
My special thanks to CAIR, DRDO and my co-guide
Mr. Sartaj Singh
I would like to thanks to DST-SERB for funding
support of this project
Last but not least I would thanks my family for their
constant support

THANK YOU

z
x

Red is z axis
Red is y axis
Sky blue is x axis

d1
d2

l1

z2

x2

y2
l2
y3

z3

x3

Gait

Non
Periodic

Periodic

Continuous

Trot

Bound

Discontinuous

Pace

Crawl

Free Gaits

x4 , y4

3 x3 , y 3

x1 , y1
1