Trajectory analysis for the MASAR: A new modular and single-actuator robot

Abstract

Single-actuator mobile robots offer the benefits of low energy consumption, low weight and size, and low cost, but their motion is typically only one-dimensional. By using auxiliary binary mechanisms that redirect and channel the driving force of their only actuator in different ways, it is possible for these robots to perform higher-dimensional motions, such as walking straight, steering, or jumping, with only one motor. This paper presents the MASAR, a new Modular And Single-Actuator Robot that carries a single motor and several adhesion pads. By alternately releasing or attaching these adhesion pads to the environment, the proposed robot is able to pivot about different axes using only one motor, with the possibility of performing concave plane transitions or combining with other identical modules to build more complex reconfigurable robots. In this paper, we solve the planar trajectory tracking problem of this robot for polygonal paths made up of sequences of segments, which may include narrow corridors that are difficult to traverse. We propose a locomotion based on performing rotations of 180°, which we demonstrate to be the minimum-time solution for long trajectories, and a near-optimal solution for shorter ones.