Design of a Hopping Mechanism using Permanent Magnets for Small-scale Exploration Rovers

The author has previously proposed a hopping mechanism using permanent magnets for small-scale exploration rovers. The main part of the proposed mechanism consists of one movable magnet and two stationary magnets. The mechanism uses for hopping the impact force generated when the movable magnet sticks to the stationary magnet. The features of the mechanism are that the large impact force can be generated in spite of low-power consumption, and it can be easily miniaturized and modularized. On the contrary, the weak point is that the performance of the mechanism cannot be controlled directly. To fully derive the potential ability of the mechanism it requires an appropriate design method to determine the design parameters such as the length and radius of magnets. This paper presents a design of the mechanism utilizing the estimation method of hopping performance of the mechanism proposed in the previous work. Also, an example of the design procedure in case the size of the mechanism has restriction is described.