Flippy: A soft, autonomous climber with simple sensing and control

Melinda Malley; Michael Rubenstein; Radhika Nagpal

doi:10.1109/IROS.2017.8206563

Flippy: A soft, autonomous climber with simple sensing and control

Melinda Malley, Michael Rubenstein, Radhika Nagpal

Computer Science

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

30 Scopus citations

Abstract

Climbing robots have many potential applications including maintenance, monitoring, search and rescue, and self-assembly. While numerous climbing designs have been investigated, most are limited to stiff components. Flippy (Fig. 1) is a small, flipping biped robot with a soft, flexible body and on-board power and control. Due to its built-in compliance, flipping gait, and corkscrew gripper, it can autonomously climb up and down surfaces held at any angle relative to gravity and transition from one surface to another, without complex sensing or control. In this paper, we demonstrate the robot's ability to flip consistently over a flat Velcro surface and 2D Velcro track, where it reliably climbs vertically, upside down and back to a flat surface, completing all the interior transitions in-between.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	IROS 2017 - IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages	6533-6540
Number of pages	8
ISBN (Electronic)	9781538626825
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS.2017.8206563
State	Published - Dec 13 2017
Event	2017 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2017 - Vancouver, Canada Duration: Sep 24 2017 → Sep 28 2017

Publication series

Name	IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems
Volume	2017-September
ISSN (Print)	2153-0858
ISSN (Electronic)	2153-0866

Other

Other	2017 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2017
Country/Territory	Canada
City	Vancouver
Period	9/24/17 → 9/28/17

Funding

*This work was supported and funded by the Wyss Institute 1School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University [email protected] 2Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, Mechanical Engineering Department, McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University [email protected]

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Control and Systems Engineering
Software
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Computer Science Applications

Access to Document

10.1109/IROS.2017.8206563

Cite this

Malley, M., Rubenstein, M., & Nagpal, R. (2017). Flippy: A soft, autonomous climber with simple sensing and control. In IROS 2017 - IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (pp. 6533-6540). Article 8206563 (IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems; Vol. 2017-September). Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS.2017.8206563

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title = "Flippy: A soft, autonomous climber with simple sensing and control",

abstract = "Climbing robots have many potential applications including maintenance, monitoring, search and rescue, and self-assembly. While numerous climbing designs have been investigated, most are limited to stiff components. Flippy (Fig. 1) is a small, flipping biped robot with a soft, flexible body and on-board power and control. Due to its built-in compliance, flipping gait, and corkscrew gripper, it can autonomously climb up and down surfaces held at any angle relative to gravity and transition from one surface to another, without complex sensing or control. In this paper, we demonstrate the robot's ability to flip consistently over a flat Velcro surface and 2D Velcro track, where it reliably climbs vertically, upside down and back to a flat surface, completing all the interior transitions in-between.",

author = "Melinda Malley and Michael Rubenstein and Radhika Nagpal",

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Malley, M, Rubenstein, M & Nagpal, R 2017, Flippy: A soft, autonomous climber with simple sensing and control. in IROS 2017 - IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems., 8206563, IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, vol. 2017-September, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., pp. 6533-6540, 2017 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, IROS 2017, Vancouver, Canada, 9/24/17. https://doi.org/10.1109/IROS.2017.8206563

Flippy: A soft, autonomous climber with simple sensing and control. / Malley, Melinda; Rubenstein, Michael; Nagpal, Radhika.
IROS 2017 - IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2017. p. 6533-6540 8206563 (IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems; Vol. 2017-September).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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Flippy: A soft, autonomous climber with simple sensing and control

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