Study on turning motion of micro robot driven by cyclic force

Deals with the turning motion mechanism of a brush-type micro robot using cyclic centrifugal forces. Many wheeled robots usually turn along the tangential velocity generated by their rolling wheels. The micro robot studied here has a turning property different from usual wheeled mobile robots. To realize the micro mobile robot the mechanism accompanied with many brush legs has been often applied so far. However, the turning motion mechanics has not been clarified. The paper clarifies the mechanics. First, we derive a two-dimensional rolling model of the brush-type robot driven by cyclic centrifugal forces, and indicate the existence of the lateral force acting toward the robot by the computer simulation and the simple mathematical analysis. Next, to confirm the turning motion mechanics caused by the lateral force, we obtain many experimental results of the circular trajectory using three kinds of prototype. Finally, we conclude the validity of the turning motion mechanics caused by the lateral force that the cyclic centrifugal force generates