Configuration synthesis of multifunctional leg mechanism for mobile lunar probes

Lunar polar resource studies necessitate probes capable of large-scale exploration on complex terrain. Aiming at creating a walking–leaping multimode probe for the lunar surface, this paper proposes a probe leg configuration synthesis method that combines the atlas and screw constraint methods. The reciprocity between wrench and twist is used to establish design constraints for the probe leg's landing cushion requirement, and freedom constraints are derived from the walking function requirement. Using the screw constraint method, three leg configurations, namely, series, parallel, and hybrid, were synthesized to obtain candidate solutions that met the design principles. The degree-of-freedom distribution of these solutions was visualized using the atlas method. Compared with existing wheeled mobile detectors, walking–leaping detectors require higher repeated buffering capabilities in the legs. This paper proposes a method for analyzing detector buffering capacity based on the Lie group distance and based on this, analyzes the buffering capacity of the legs. The proposed design and analysis methods for the multimode mobile leg configuration are universal, enabling leg configuration synthesis for diverse lunar probes and other multimode mobile mechanisms operating on complex terrains.