Development and Modeling of a Miniature Jumping Robot Based on NiTi Wires

In this paper, we present the design, modeling, and experimentation of a miniature jumping robot that utilizes Nitinol (NiTi) wires to store potential energy for the jump. NiTi wires were selected as a superior option to other energy storage medium (e.g., springs, carbon fiber) as they provide large deformations without breaking. Utilizing this option allows for the ultimate goal of designing a hybrid wheeling and jumping robot to be reached. The modeling of NiTi wires to predict the jumping performance is not trivial, owing to NiTi's nonlinear properties. Therefore, we develop mathematical models by considering the nonlinearity as well as asymmetric loading responses to capture the force, geometry, and energy during the energy-charge process. With the designed robot, the predicted jumping performance is close to the experimental results, verifying the proposed modeling methods. The robot has a wide range of applications from search and rescue, environment monitoring, to surveillance. Moreover, other systems that leverage the NiTi's super elasticity to store energy can use the developed mathematical model for NiTi wires.