Inchworm Robot Structural Design and Kinematic Modeling

The structure of a bionic robot is created using the inchworm's motion mechanism as inspiration. And the universal joint's properties are used to realize the robot's multi-motion mode functionality. The forward and inverse kinematics are examined by D-H modeling. The mechanical model of the robot is created by using ADAMS simulation software. It shows that the relative error of the model is less than 0.4% after comparison between the mathematical model and the simulation mechanical model. The results suggest the accuracy of the kinematic model and offer a new approach to kinematic modeling verification. It is demonstrated that the bionic robot with this structure can realize a variety of motion gaits through simulation and analysis of the inchworm robot, such as steering, obstacle-crossing. This design serves as a reference for bionic robot structure research.