Mechanical design of hexapods with integrated limb mechanism: MELMANTIS-1 and MELMANTIS-2

This paper describes the mechanical design and basic control of prototype hexapods with integrated limb mechanism, named MELMANTIS-1 and MELMANTIS-2. MELMANTIS-1 and MELMANTIS-2 use a six-bar linkage with four degrees-of-freedom as an integrated limb mechanism with dual use for leg and for arm. The mechanical design of MELMANTIS-1 is based on kinematic analysis of the six-bar linkage. MELMANTIS-2 is designed and manufactured to improve mechanical stiffness and to reduce position control errors of arms, based on the result of basic experiments of MELMANTIS-1.