Design and Implementation of a New Spherical Robot with an Elastic Pawl

In order to improve the obstacle-surmounting performance and adaptability of the spherical robot in unstructured terrain, a new spherical robot with an elastic pawl is designed. While retaining the original structural characteristics of the spherical robot, the elastic pawl deformation mechanism and axial expansion mechanism are introduced to enable the robot to switch various motion modes. The parameters of the deformation mechanism are designed through the establishment of a mathematical model, and the kinematic analysis of the obstacle-surmounting process is carried out. ADAMS dynamic simulation software is used to simulate the robot in a variety of typical terrain environments. On this basis, the physical prototype is manufactured and assembled, and the traveling test under various terrains is carried out, verifying the robot structure’s feasibility and practicability.