DuCTT: A Tensegrity Robot for Exploring Duct Systems Conference Paper

abstract

• 2014 IEEE. A robot with the ability to traverse complex duct systems requires a large range of controllable motions as well as the ability to grip the duct walls in vertical shafts. We present a tensegrity robot with two linked tetrahedral frames, each containing a linear actuator, connected by a system of eight actuated cables. The robot climbs by alternately wedging each tetrahedron within the duct and moving one tetrahedron relative to the other. We first introduce our physical prototype, called DuCTT (Duct Climbing Tetrahedral Tensegrity). We next discuss the inverse kinematic control strategy used to actuate the robot and analyze the controller's capabilities within a physics simulation. Finally, we discuss the hardware prototype and compare its performance with simulation.

name of conference

• 2014 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)

authors

• Skelton, Robert

published proceedings

• 2014 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)

altmetric score

• 7

author list (cited authors)

• Friesen, J., Pogue, A., Bewley, T., de Oliveira, M., Skelton, R., & Sunspiral, V.

citation count

• 57

complete list of authors

• Friesen, Jeffrey||Pogue, Alexandra||Bewley, Thomas||de Oliveira, Mauricio||Skelton, Robert||Sunspiral, Vytas

publication date

• May 2014

publisher

• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)  Publisher

published in

• IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation  Journal

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1109/icra.2014.6907473

start page

• 4222

end page

• 4228