Development of a Hexapod with Integrated Limb Mechanism of Leg & Arm : MELMANTIS-1

—Geometrical design for leg-arm transformation and object handling—

Abstract

The authors proposed a new concept for the integration of locomotion and manipulation, “the Integrated Limb Mechanism”. The concept covers the technical fields both of the control integration and of the mechanism integration necessary for the practical working robot. This paper describes the mechanical configuration design of a prototype hexapod with integrated limb mechanism, named “MELMANTIS-1”. MELMANTIS-1 uses a six-bar linkage with four degrees-of-freedom as an example of integrated limb mechanism with both advantages for leg and for arm. Several items on leg and body configuration design are taken into account for a hexapod with the transformable legs into arms. A kinematic analysis on the volume of dual or triple arm workspace is performed for the evaluation of the mechanism and configuration. Basic motion of MELMANTIS-1 is experimented to verify the transformation of a leg mechanism into an arm.