Bruce -- Design and Development of a Dynamic Hexapod Robot

TL;DR

Bruce is a rapidly developed, dynamically capable hexapod robot that uses mostly 3D printed parts and simple control strategies to traverse difficult terrains at speeds up to 0.5m/s, with potential for higher speeds.

Contribution

This work presents the design, rapid development, and deployment of Bruce, a hexapod robot with innovative use of 3D printing and simple control for robust terrain navigation.

Findings

Successfully traversed rough terrain including grass, rocks, and rubble.

Achieved flat-ground speeds up to 0.5m/s with a simple controller.

Deployed in DARPA SubT Challenge Tunnel event in 2019.

Abstract

This paper introduces Bruce, the CSIRO Dynamic Hexapod Robot capable of autonomous, dynamic locomotion over difficult terrain. This robot is built around Apptronik linear series elastic actuators, and went from design to deployment in under a year by using approximately 80\% 3D printed structural (joints and link) parts. The robot has so far demonstrated rough terrain traversal over grass, rocks and rubble at 0.3m/s, and flat-ground speeds up to 0.5m/s. This was achieved with a simple controller, inspired by RHex, with a central pattern generator, task-frame impedance control for individual legs and no foot contact detection. The robot is designed to move at up to 1.0m/s on flat ground with appropriate control, and was deployed into the the DARPA SubT Challenge Tunnel circuit event in August 2019.