Modeling and Optimization of Wheel-Propeller-Leg Integrated Driving Mechanism for an Amphibious Robot

A wheel-propeller-leg integrated amphibious robot is presented as a new type of robot, which can both crawl on land and swim underwater in certain depth or creep on ocean floor. The multi-locomotion models and compound-mobile mechanism are the main traits of the amphibious robot. The motion principle of the wheel-propeller-leg integrated driving mechanism is analyzed, and the multi-objective optimization theory and algorithm are adopted for the comprehensive optimization of the driving performance of both crawl and swim, as a result, the optimized parameters of the driving mechanism are obtained. The simulation results from the virtual prototype prove that the wheel-propeller-leg integrated driving mechanism be endowed with good performance in the comprehensive locomotion, which ensure the amphibious robot fit for unstructured environment in some extent.