Mechanism design for locust-inspired robot with one-DOF leg based on jumping stability

The good jumping stability of a robot prevents the robot from turning over in the jumping process and is the basis for achieving good jumping performance. This study investigates stability assurance for a locust-inspired jumping robot from the perspective of mechanism design. A mechanism design method for a locust-inspired robot with one-degree-of-freedom jumping leg is proposed based on the jumping stability mechanism of locusts. Jumping stability includes kinematic and dynamic stability. Kinematic stability focuses on the attitude change of a robot in the take-off process and determines the dimension of each link. The smaller the changes in attitude are, the better the kinematic stability is. Dynamic stability focuses on the relationship between the center of mass position and the total inertia moment. The smaller the changes in the total inertia moment are, the better the dynamic stability is; that is, the robot has a low tendency to turn over in the flight phase. Simulation results show that the examined robot demonstrates good jumping stability when the developed mechanism design method is used.