A New Design for Cassino Hexapod Robot
We present the design process of a new low-cost easy-operation Cassino Hexapod robot. In a recent past, research activities have been carried out for developing a six-legged robot at LARM (LAboratory of Robotics and Mechatronics) of Cassino University in Italy. The robot designs have been based on suitable mechanism structures and architectures that can be easy operated by a commercial on-off logic device. The first prototype is composed of modular legs with three degrees of freedom (DOF). A second prototype of a hexapod leg presents two links and two DOFs. The new prototype Cassino Hexapod robot has two DOFs, such as, one for pitch movement that drives an articulated mechanism and other for yaw movement. Additional peculiarity of the leg design is that the foot is designed as a powered wheel with the possibility to regulate the velocity and force at the contact during the support phases of the leg. Simulation results of the proposed design operation of the new hexapod robot are reported with the aim of characterizing both operation performance and design features.