Development and Implement of a Novel Quadruped Amphibious Robot

With the continuous development of modern technology and the ongoing exploitation of marine resources, robots are playing an increasingly important role in environmental surveying and military fields; currently, most quadruped robots are quadruped bionic robots, designed to simulate the walking, running, and jumping movements of real dogs. These quadruped bionic robots have excellent mobility, but their adaptability to complex terrains (such as steep slopes and rugged terrains) is weak, and their ability to control movement well in water is limited. This research aims to design a novel quadruped amphibious robot, combining quadruped bionic robots and multi-legged robots (mimicking the movement characteristics of spiders), capable of having stronger terrain adaptability and underwater control capabilities. The quadruped robot uses waterproof servo motors as joint drives, simulating the movement of multi-legged robots; underwater propellers are used as the propulsion system, using servo motors to control the direction of the propellers, thereby changing the thrust force produced by the propellers to control the robot's movement direction. Remote control of the robot is achieved through a local area network connection; IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) and depth sensors are used for closed-loop PID control of the robot's position and posture to achieve trajectory tracking of the robot. A model of the robot was established in SolidWorks; simulation of the robot's leg movement was conducted in MATLAB to achieve gait planning; fluid dynamics simulation of the robot was established in ANSYS-CFX to verify its underwater motion characteristics. Experimental results show that the novel quadruped amphibious robot has high adaptability in ground movement, capable of adapting to multi-terrain trajectory tracking movement; it has strong control capabilities in water, capable of accurately performing surfacing, sinking, forward, backward, and turning movements.