ARMoR: Amphibious Robot for Mobility in Real-World Applications

This paper presents a mobile robot for amphibious surface locomotion called ARMoR. The locomotion system of ARMoR consists of two wheel-and-leg transformable mechanisms and a customizable balancing tail. A sphere body chassis containing electronic components assembles the wheels and the tail. A combination of chassis design and transformable wheels allows ARMoR to safely navigate various environments, including diverse terrains and water surfaces. The robot is controlled and operated using an embedded microprocessor interfacing with sensing, communicating, and powering modules, including the Global Positioning System (GPS), camera, Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), wireless communication module, and batteries. ARMoR was tested for its locomotion capabilities on concrete, dirt, grass, rocky surface, low brush, stairs, and water. On concrete, dirt, and grass, ARMoR operated in the wheeled mode; on other surfaces, the wheels transformed into the legged configuration enabling the robot to traverse challenging surface conditions effectively. ARMoR successfully traversed all terrains, and the traversal speeds were measured.