A Shape Memory Alloy-Actuated Bio-inspired Mesoscale Jumping Robot

Jumping may be considered to be quite a useful means of mobile robot locomotion, but acquiring a stable landing has been a difficult problem. This paper reports on the design, analysis, simulation and experiments of a mesoscale jumping robot that is capable of stable landing. A jumping mechanism inspired by jumping insects is introduced and an actuation scheme using only one shape memory alloy (SMA) spring is described. Experimental results show that a robot with a 17 gram weight and 13 cm diameter can jump forward as far as 1.2 times its body diameter and vertically as high as 1.5 times its body diameter. In addition, the robot is able to land in a stable manner and recover its initial posture after landing.