A robot designed to jump higher than Big Ben, even 200 meters on the moon

Scientists have designed a system that allows robots to record the highest jumps to date.

A team at the University of Manchester has developed a design that allows robots to overcome obstacles many times their size. They used a combination of computer simulations, laboratory experiments and mathematical principles.

The system helped the team optimize the size, shape and arrangement of the robot’s parts to achieve the desired results.

According to researchers, the current highest jumping robot can reach up to 33 meters, which is 110 times its own size. The new robot can jump over 120 meters in the air or 200 meters on the moon – more than twice the height of Big Ben.

Details of the team’s research were published in the journal Mechanism and theory of machinesy

An efficient robot jumps

Traditionally, robots are designed to move by rolling on wheels or walking on legs. However, jumping is an effective way to move around places with uneven terrain or numerous obstacles.

Although jumping robots are currently on the market, their design presents a number of significant obstacles, primary of which is the ability to jump high enough to overcome substantial and complex obstacles.

The team’s goal was to find a design that would “dramatically improve the energy efficiency and performance of spring-powered jumping robots,” said Dr. John Lo, a space robotics researcher at the University of Manchester and co-author of the study. declaration.

The researchers found that conventional jumping robots often launch themselves before fully releasing their stored spring energy, limiting their maximum height and creating inefficient jumps. Additionally, they tend to waste energy turning or moving sideways instead of jumping straight up.

The researchers’ goal was to eliminate these unwanted movements with their new designs while maintaining the necessary stiffness and structural integrity.

Optimization of jump dynamics

The team studied how prismatic and rotational spring models bounce and used this information to create a multi-body model of a rhombus connection for a physical bouncing system.

According to the team, deciding on the shape of the robot involves a choice between a leg-based drive, which is similar to a kangaroo, or a piston mechanism with a large spring.

Shape options range from simple symmetrical patterns like diamonds to more complex organic forms. The team then had to decide on the size of the robot: small ones are agile, while larger ones can accommodate more powerful motors for higher jumps. Finding the optimal size probably means finding a balance between agility and performance.

Improvements to the team’s design include redistribution of mass upwards and optimization of link structures, although these improvements must be tailored to each design.

“The lighter prism-shaped legs and the use of springs that only stretch are all features that we have shown to improve the performance and especially the energy efficiency of the jumping robot,” said Dr. Ben Parslew, Senior Lecturer. in aerospace engineering at the university and co-authored the study.

Although the researchers have identified a viable design alternative that will greatly increase performance, their next step is to control the direction of the jumps and determine how to use the kinetic energy from landing to increase the number of jumps the robot can make on a single charge.

Researchers say they will also explore smaller versions for space missions.