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Abigaille II: toward the development of a spider-inspired climbing robot

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2011

Yasong Li ,
Ausama Ahmed ,
Dan Sameoto  and
Carlo Menon
Yasong Li
Affiliation:
Menrva Group, School of Engineering Science, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Ausama Ahmed
Affiliation:
Menrva Group, School of Engineering Science, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Dan Sameoto
Affiliation:
Menrva Group, School of Engineering Science, Simon Fraser University, Canada Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta, Canada
Carlo Menon*
Affiliation:
Menrva Group, School of Engineering Science, Simon Fraser University, Canada
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: cmenon@sfu.ca
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Summary

This paper presents a novel robotic platform, Abigaille II, designed to climb vertical surfaces using dry adhesion. Abigaille II is a lightweight hexapod prototype actuated by 18 miniaturized motors. The robot's feet consist of adhesive patches, which have microhairs with mushroom-shaped caps fixed on the top of millimeter-scale flexible posts. A pentapedal gait is used to climb flat vertical surfaces as this gait maximizes the number of legs in contact to the surface. Abigaille can however also walk by using other gaits, including the tripod gait.

Keywords

Biomimetic robotsMechatronic systemsDesignLegged robotsClimbing robot
Type
Articles
Information
Robotica , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , January 2012 , pp. 79 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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