Multiple Jumping and Perching of a Miniature Mobile Robot

Many insects and miniature robots can traverse through narrow spaces via jumping motion; however, successful jumping and landing remains challenging in small-scale. No jumping robot within 90 g have yet demonstrated multiple jumping and perching successfully. Here, we demonstrate continuous jumping and perching of a miniature robot. The origami-inspired structure was manufactured by smart composite microstructure technology. A novel jumping mechanism was designed to load adjustable jump energy actuated by only one motor. A perching mechanism with two adhesive pads was designed to passively couple with the jumping mechanism, achieving perching on the ground and automatically detaching before the next jump. The jumping mechanism achieved adjustable jumping energy, corresponding to jumping height from 0.7 cm to 36.4 cm. The perching mechanism provided successful landing within a wide range (when velocity angle according to vertical direction <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$=18^{\circ}$</tex>, the velocity magnitude <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\leq 3.4\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}$</tex>, the body angle <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\leq 30^{\circ}$</tex>). <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$\text{Unlike}$</tex> typical jumping robots performing uncontrollable landing and free-rolling, our robot kept its body up-righted during the whole movement and avoided free-rolling after landing. The self-contained prototype had 18 g of mass, 6.5 cm of body height, and 36.4 cm of maximum jumping height. Finally, an eccentric motor was integrated to perform multiple omnidirectional jumping and perching movements; this represents significant improvement of motion ability for small-scale mobile robots.