4 Bar Linkage Walking Robot
Engineering Design 1, Fall 2018
I worked in a team of 4 to construct a walking robot to traverse rocky terrain. We designed a coupler curve and corresponding four bar linkage to emulate the gait of a cat. During the design process, we iterated through several coupler curves and leg shapes. We determined the optimal gear ratio to use for a provided DC motor and gear box, and laser cut acrylic gears to translate the motion to all four legs.
Notable design changes to our initial prototype were made to optimize performance. A tail was added to the back of the robot to keep it walking straight and to help it climb the steeper hill at the end of the course. Additional acrylic pieces were added to the base of the feet, providing more stability. A high friction material was applied to the bottom of the feet to reduce pivoting between steps and improve performance on hilly terrain. With some minor adjustments to the prototype shown in the video below, the robot was able successfully complete the course during testing.
View detailed writeup here.
CAD assembly of robot.
Testing Course
Approximate CAD model of the testing course. The robot is intended to follow in the path of a larger vehicle that clears a path through rolling terrain. The terrain to either side of the path is rocky. Speed and robustness was tested with multiple trials on the course.