Novel Quick Return Mechanism and Dish Shape Deformable Body Structure for Circular Jumping Robot

A circular jumping robot which can move and jump by deformation of elastic outer shell was proposed. In previous research, it was confirmed that the dish shape is the best deformation shape to jump high, and the circular jumping robot using dish shape for jump was proposed. However, previous robot could not jump. In this paper, a new mechanism of jumping robot is proposed that solves the problem of previous one. First, we proposed a novel quick return mechanism. In this mechanism, the outer shell of the robot is deformed by high torque driving shaft. And then, the deformation is released and return to original shape of outer shell by passive joint. This mechanism can improve both pulling force and releasing speed simultaneously. Next, we proposed a structure of outer shell that does not need a restraint mechanism to deform dish shape. The prototype was fabricated and the performance is evaluated experimentally. It was confirmed that the robot can jump using the proposed quick return mechanism and body structure.