UC San Diego

This paper describes the design and fabrication of a pneumatically powered locomotive robot that utilizes printable prismatic pouch motors to generate multi-directional motion of the legs. The pneumatic circuitry and pouch motor layout are integrated into the robot design and create a motion sequence that results in locomotion. The fabrication process of this robot consists of a combination of lamination, mask heat pressing, 3-d printing, and 2-dimensional plotting. The integrated pouch actuators of the robot can provide up to 5 N of block force using 25 kPa of air pressure supply. Optimal locomotion performance of the robot is found through experimentation with cycle frequency. The tethered robotic system is able to reliably carry payloads up to 1250 grams. Untethered robot locomotion in the positive and negative x-direction was demonstrated. Finally, we demonstrated that the robot can be designed to walk laterally and longitudinally.