A Novel Design and Evaluation of a Dactylus-Equipped Quadruped Robot for Mobile Manipulation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a cost-effective quadruped robot with integrated leg-mounted manipulators inspired by crustaceans, capable of versatile manipulation tasks with minimal additional components.

Contribution

The novel design leverages existing leg actuators for manipulation, reducing cost and weight while enabling multi-limb tasks in a quadruped robot.

Findings

Capable of single- and dual-limb manipulation

Performs similarly to traditional arms at lower cost and weight

Successfully transitions between manipulation modes

Abstract

Quadruped robots are usually equipped with additional arms for manipulation, negatively impacting price and weight. On the other hand, the requirements of legged locomotion mean that the legs of such robots often possess the needed torque and precision to perform manipulation. In this paper, we present a novel design for a small-scale quadruped robot equipped with two leg-mounted manipulators inspired by crustacean chelipeds and knuckle-walker forelimbs. By making use of the actuators already present in the legs, we can achieve manipulation using only 3 additional motors per limb. The design enables the use of small and inexpensive actuators relative to the leg motors, further reducing cost and weight. The moment of inertia impact on the leg is small thanks to an integrated cable/pulley system. As we show in a suite of tele-operation experiments, the robot is capable of performing single- and dual-limb manipulation, as well as transitioning between manipulation modes. The proposed design performs similarly to an additional arm while weighing and costing 5 times less per manipulator and enabling the completion of tasks requiring 2 manipulators.