Design of Acceleration Control for Center of Mass on Sliding Robot

To achieve steady locomotion with simple control for a locomotion robot on a slippery surface, the authors have been developing a crawling-like locomotion robot positively utilizing sliding. The previous researches were clarified that motion of the center of mass mightily induces sliding motion; whereas, they does not elucidate a principle of sliding motion generation on slippery ground. Aiming at designing effective acceleration control to efficiently slide on a slippery level ground based on a locomotion principle, we investigate relation between acceleration of the center of mass and friction in this paper. First, we introduce a simple robot model with two orthogonal telescopic joints. Second, we derive the equation of motion. Third, we design the acceleration control for the center of mass. Fourth, we show numerical simulation. The robot steadily locomotes on the slippery ground with simple control. In addition, our model allowed us to choose appropriate spring parameters which improve the specific resistance of the robot to 0.2039 [-].