The Multilegged Autonomous eXplorer (MAX)
Alberto Elfes, Ryan Steindl, Fletcher Talbot, Farid Kendoul, Pavan Sikka, Tom Lowe, Navinda Kottege, Marko Bjelonic
Abstract
To address the goal of locomotion in very complex and difficult terrains, the authors are developing a new class of Ultralight Legged Robots. This paper presents the Multilegged Autonomous eXplorer (MAX), an ultralight, six-legged robot for traversal and exploration of challenging indoor and outdoor environments. The design of MAX emphasizes a low mass/size ratio, high locomotion efficiency, and high payload capability compared to total system mass. MAX is 2.25 m tall at full height and has a mass of approximately 60 kg, which makes it 5 to 20 times lighter than robots of comparable size. MAX is a research vehicle to explore modelling and control of Ultralight Legged Robots subject to flexing, oscillations and swaying; algorithms for gait planning and motion planning under uncertainty; and navigation planning for traversal of complex 3D terrains. This paper presents the design of MAX, provides an overview of the control system developed, summarizes results from indoor and outdoor tests, discusses system performance and outlines the challenges to be addressed next.
BibTeX
@inproceedings{icra2017_themultileggedau,
title = {The Multilegged Autonomous eXplorer (MAX)},
author = {Alberto Elfes and Ryan Steindl and Fletcher Talbot and Farid Kendoul and Pavan Sikka and Tom Lowe and Navinda Kottege and Marko Bjelonic and Ross Dungavell and Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay and Marcus Hoerger and Benjamin Tam and David Rytz},
booktitle = {ICRA 2017},
year = {2017}
}