Mechanical Design of a Novel Reconfigurable Wheel-Legged Robot with Multiple Locomotion Modes

The adaptability of a mobile robot in unstructured environments is one of the most important evaluation indicators. Wheeled locomotion has higher speed on flat ground, while legged mode is more suitable for complex terrain. Therefore, different design methods have been presented to improve the adaptability by combining legged and wheeled locomotion modes on a single robot. In this study, a novel wheel-legged robot is proposed based on a reconfigurable parallel mechanism. It is composed of an upper platform, a lower platform, and four reconfigurable branches. Each platform is constructed by a scissor mechanism. Each branch is constructed by an open chain mechanism, in which a wheel and a foot are connected to enhance locomotion capability of the robot. Based on reconfigurability of the parallel mechanism, the robot can transform among different topological structures to achieve wheeled or legged locomotion mode. The transformable strategy is further developed to choose different locomotion modes. Several simulation experiments will be carried out to verify the feasibility of the robot design.