a biologically inspired small-scale water jumping robot

작은 스케일의 생체 모방 수상 점프 로봇

This paper describes the locomotion of a water jumping robot which attempts to emulate the fishing spider’s ability to jump on the water surface. While previous studies of the robots mimicking arthropods living on water were focused on recreating their horizontal skating motions, here we aim to achieve a vertical jumping motion. The robot jumps by pushing the water surface with rapidly released legs which were initially bent. The motion is triggered with a latch driven by the shape memory alloy actuator. The robot is capable of jumping to the maximum height of 26mm. Jumping efficiency, defined the maximum jumping height on water over the maximum jumping height on rigid ground, is 0.26 This work represents a first step toward robots that can locomote on water with superior versatility including skating and jumping.