Development of a biologically-inspired mesoscale robot

This paper presents the design and prototype of a mesoscale (13 cm long) six-legged walking robot whose locomotion is actuated by a piezoelectric actuator named LIPCA, which consists of multiple layers of glass/epoxy and carbon/epoxy that encapsulate a unimorph piezoceramic actuator. Inspired by the walking kinematics of cockroaches, our robot uses the alternating tripod gait (the front and rear legs on the same side move together with the middle leg on the other side for the locomotion), and has six legs that are designed to mimic the function of those of cockroaches. All the experiments with the prototype show a possibility of a small, light, and agile walking robot that is actuated by LIPCA without using any conventional electromagnetic actuator.